-Poul Anderson, "Wingless" IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 293-306 AT p. 295.
By Erannath's time, human Avalonians have accepted the Ythrian view that government is unnecessary. It seems to follow that they have joined choths, live under choth law and participate in Khruaths.
Ythrians have no:
armed nation-states
governments
legislatures
law enforcement agencies
They do have:
a judiciary, the Wyvans
a way to enforce Wyvans' judgements, Oherran
a space navy, purely for external defence
The crucial Planha terms here are:
choth
Khruath
Wyvan
Oherran
- and also "deathpride," which is translated into Anglic for us.
To understand these terms, read The People Of The Wind and/or search this blog. Human Avalonians are indeed a special sort.
2 comments:
I would think that the Ythrians also take territory -- virtually all social carnivores kill each other -a lot-. So do humans in a 'state of nature', before governments, both Neolithic farmers and hunter-gatherers.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And despite what Erannath said, that helps to make me skeptical that the state has wholly withered away among the human Avalonians. I think we see as well some of Anderson's libertarian hopes here.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment