I think that the most accurate summary of Poul Anderson's
The Earth Book Of Stormgate is one that I formulated a while back, namely that the
Earth Book completes the story of the Polesotechnic League and almost completes the story of human-Ythrian interactions. By implication, this summary informs us first that there has already been information about the League (in fact, four volumes), secondly that there has already been information about human beings and Ythrians (one novel) and thirdly that there will be more about the latter. This is true as far as it goes but what it leaves out is that, if we read the Technic History in this order, with the
Earth Book as Volume VI, then that novel,
The People Of The Wind,
introduces not only human beings and Ythrians sharing the planet Avalon but also the Terran Empire which tries to annex Avalon and, of course, most of the post-
Earth Book Technic History, nine of ten volumes, is about the Empire.
In The People Of The Wind, Tabitha Falkayn tells us that:
the Empire has grown since Manuel I;
some planets, like Cynthia, willingly joined the Empire;
others were acquired by purchase, exchange or conquest;
the Empire is about 400 light-years across as against the Ythrian Domain's 80.
Much more information will follow. Reading the History in this order, we do not yet know that there is a short story about Manuel Argos, Founder of the Terran Empire.
18 comments:
I don't think a sphere in space can have boundaries in the same sense as a nation/empire/whatever on the surface of a planet. The Terran Empire is 400 light-years across, but according to the internal data in the stories, only about half the stars in that volume have been even briefly visited once.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: You are correct, over and over in the stories I see mention of how BLURRY and vague were the "boundaries" of the Empire.
One of the things I might have done, if I had been in any position of influence in the Empire, would have been to urge the investigation of at least some of those stars which had never been visited at all. Simply to get an idea of what might be THERE.
I've argued the Empire was divided, for administrative purposes, into 100 sectors. I would have recommended taking 200 obsolete Navy space ships and use them to investigate never visited stars (2 ships per sector). Many stars could have been checked out in a few years.
Navy ships, because unexpected dangers might be found at some of those stars. So it would be best to be armed, just in case.
Paul: I've thought of how Terran and the Dispersal of Ymir agreed to exchange planets useless to either of them but which one or the would other would find better fitted their needs.
Ad astra! Sean
Though with the available technology, you could do the basics of exploration from a distance. Detecting planets and analyzing their atmospheres, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I should have thought of that as well. Any investigation of the kind I suggested might use both, with ships being sent to check out the most interesting planets.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Right. We'll be able to do -some- of the first ourselves soon. This year, in fact! We'll be able to detect earth-sized planets, and the composition of exoplanet atmospheres.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The Webb telescope becomes operational this year??? Great news! I'll be keen to know what soon might be discovered!
Ad astra! Sean
Operational in about five months, IIRC. It's already in its final orbit and everything has gone well so far.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Operational by June or July? Great news!!!!!!!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes, we're going to get wonders and marvels. Besides planetary data, insight into times well before the Hubble was able to reach, right back into the period of the first suns.
That would be a few hundred million years after the Big Bang -- and that will give us far more data for the whole first phase of the universe. The Webb will be seeing back to an era when the universe itself was vastly -smaller- than it is now, for example.
Note that this is just the beginning. The Webb is much more powerful than the Hubble, not least in the size of its mirror.
But when the SpaceX Starship is operational, we'll be able to put up space telescopes of almost -any- size. One Starship can boost 100-150 tons to LEO, but they'll launch in very quick succession.
And Starship's tanker variant will make it possible to refuel them, unlike the Webb.
According to what I've read, this will make it possible to put up telescopes that can actually directly observe things like continents on exoplanets.
It'll be much cheaper than with the Webb, too, because construction won't have to be nearly as tricky and subtle to get around deployment and weight constraints.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
All this is truly wonderful marvelous! And I wish so much Anderson could have lived to see it. True, he would have been 96 this year, but that is not always too implausible an age for some people to reach.
Ad astra! Sean
A Romany woman told me that I would live to 95 although what shape will this planet be in by then?
I tend to take a long view of the planet. For example, we're in an interglacial period right now, but the planet as a whole is in a glacial era -- much, much colder than it has been for most of the course of life on earth. Only in exceptionally cold eras does earth have polar caps or glaciers, for instance.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: The Queen is getting close to age 96! She reaches that age in April. And Sunday this weeks marks the beginning of the 71st year of her reign. There can't be that many in the UK still alive who were adults when George VI died.
Mr. Stirling: And some people have wonder if global warming is what is keeping Earth from turning into another ice ball. I think I came across that idea in Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Michael Flynn's novel FALLEN ANGELS.
So, strictly speaking, it's unusual for Earth to have polar ice caps.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I was 3 at the Accession and 4 at the Coronation and do not remember either. I remember the Coronation being referred to as an important recent event later in the 1950s. One of my contemporaries said that he should live to see the next Coronation! We did not have a TV in 1953 and would not have gone to anyone else's house to watch the Coronation so it passed me by.
Paul.
Interesting that when Elizabeth II was born, Britain still ruled 1/4 of the human race and a similar proportion of its inhabitants.
But there are far more people, both absolutely and in percentage terms, who can speak or read/write English now than there were in the 1930's.
In India, for example, it was only in six figures then, and it's 125,000,000 now, at least -- around 10% of the total.
And in former British colonies in Africa, there are extensive areas undergoing "language shift" to English; the same has happened in Singapore, where over a third of the population use English (the local dialect thereof) as their home language.
So the number of people who could follow a Queen's Speech broadcast without translation is vastly, vastly larger now than at the Coronation.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: TVs were still rare and costly when George VI died. I'm sure far more people watched newsreels of Elizabeth II's coronation at movie houses than on home TVs.
And the Queen is giving your fellow contemporary a race for his money as regards longevity!
Mr. Stirling: I find it amazing to see how WIDESPREAD English has become. I can understand why in Africa, a "universal" language, not some obscure tribal dialect only a few hundred people understood.
And I'm sure not all Hindu nationalists are glad English is so widespread in India.
Maybe it won't be long before English becomes Anglic!
Ad astra! Sean
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