Future History Models

A British Wellsian-Stapledonian future history is a single-volume historical text book whereas an American Heinleinian future history is a series of fictional narratives set in successive historical periods. Stapledon's account of the Martian invasions is as objective and impersonal as an English historian's account of the Norman conquest - thus contrasting sharply with a conventional novel set during that period. But such histories would be written if there really were Martian invasions. (Wells wrote both The War of the Worlds and The Shape of Things to Come.)

When an American future historian introduces a volume or summarizes a period, his text momentarily approaches the British model. See Heinlein's Time Chart or Blish's Cities in Flight Introductions. In The Game of Empire, CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE, Poul Anderson summarizes events during the reigns of five Terran Emperors:

Georgios

Josip

Hans

Dietrich

Gerhart

For the Merseians, this period begins with Brechdan Ironrede as Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council and Aycharaych as Head of Intelligence and ends with Tachwyr as Protector. Apart from the thwarting of their Magnusson usurpation scheme, the Merseians are forced to reorganize a lot, thus disrupting their operations. This is bound to compound their demoralization which is expressed by Tachwyr.