Brahmards

"Progress."

Brahmins were a hereditary priestly caste. Brahmards are a scientocratic elite, recruited young with psychological tests to weed out the insufficiently dedicated/fanatical. We must not stand in the way of progress.

The Brahmard symbol is Siva which they interpret as destruction leading to rebirth.

"'...they enjoy being a boss caste. But somebody has to be.'" (p. 106)

Does somebody? The speaker makes the point that:

"'No Hinjan country has the resources or the elbow room to govern itself as loosely as you Sea People do.'" (p. 106)

Maybe. But there are still collective choices to be made about forms of government.

The speaker is a Merican addressing a Maurai about Beneghal. In these few lines in this single short story, Poul Anderson makes us feel as if we have read a novel about these countries with their conditions and traditions. I am even more convinced than before that the Maurai History is accurately describable as a very condensed future history series.

The Brahmards want to return Beneghal, then the world, to where they were before the War of Judgment. The Maurai think that this will lead to another War of Judgment. Who is right? Anderson addresses real issues in fictional settings.