Dominic Flandry strives to preserve social order.
Manuel Argos and Roan Tom respond to disorder.
Van Rijn, Argos and Tom become mythic figures.
Argos founds an Empire, defended by Flandry.
Tom brings about an alliance between Sassania, Kraken and Nike.
Kraken becomes a member of the Allied Planets which re-civilizes isolated planets.
Four men operate at successive stages of a single cyclical process.
4 comments:
As Poul noted, usually even a -bad- order is better than disorder, from most people's p.o.v.
This is usually so.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I agree, I recall Anderson writing similar things in OPERATION CHAOS and the introduction to the Gregg Press edition of THE LONG WAY HOME.
Paul: And Manuel Argos also became a legendary figure!
Ad astra! Sean
In a complex society, disorder usually means economic collapse, sometimes mass famine. The more the economy is advanced beyond subsistence agriculture, the worse this can be.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, as would Poul Anderson. At the very beginning of "A Tragedy of Errors," the "ghost" of Roan Tom gives a good description of what happened after the Empire fell. Simply unparalleled agonies and chaos!
Ad astra! Sean
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