Friday 15 December 2023

Brechdan And Tachwyr

Having become familiar with the friendly Merseians on Dennitza, it seems a shame to return to the hostiles on their home planet. However, the Roidhun reigns yet. The feeling of menace is only slightly tempered by the fact that the viewpoint character is Tachwyr the Dark whom we have seen three times in conversation with Dominic Flandry. 

CHAPTER SIX of The Game of Empire mirrors CHAPTER THREE of Ensign Flandry.

"Brechdan Ironrede, the Hand of the Vach Ynvory, walked forth on a terrace of Castle Dhanghodan."
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER THREE, p. 22.

"Banners snapped in the wind..." (ibid.)

"...mists and shadows...still cloaked the valley. Thus he could not see the farms and villages which Dhanghodan dominated: nothing but the peaks on the other side. Those climbed until their green flanks gave way to crags and cliffs of granite, to snowfields and the far blink of glaciers. The sun Korych had now cleared the eastern heights..." (ibid.)

"High overhead wheeled a fangryf, hunting, and the light burned gold of her feathers." (ibid.)

"...Brechdan presided over the Grand Council." (p. 23)

"Tachwyr the Dark, Hand of the Vach Dathyr, stood silent..."
-Poul Anderson, The Game of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT CHAPTER SIX, p. 264.

Tachwyr addresses:

"...the Grand Council over which he presided..." (ibid.)

- from:

"...a towertop of his castle." (ibid.)

- where:

"...ancient battle banners snapped above him in the wind. The sun Korych cast brilliance on forested mountainside, broad fields and clustered dwellings in the valley beneath, snowpeaks beyond." (ibid.)

"A fangryf winged on high, hunting." (ibid.)

The fangryfs represent the Merseians.

4 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

He's obviously drawing on his feeling of connection to his ancestors.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Indeed:

""On a terrace below, his sons stood at attention, in ancestral armor, honoring their forebears and their posterity, the wholeness of the Race." (p. 264)

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, to Both!

And that warlike pride and sense of connection to their forebears, allied to the disastrous belief in their race being somehow superior to all other species, made the Merseians lethally dangerous!

These bits from Chapter 1 of ENSIGN FLANDRY, giving us some examples of human ceremoniousness, are far more appealing!

His Imperial Majesty, High Emperor Georgios Manuel Krishna Murasaki, of the
Wang dynasty the fourth, Supreme Guardian of the Pax, Grand Director of the
Stellar Council, Commander-in-Chief, Final Arbiter, acknowledged supreme on
more worlds and honorary head of more organizations than any one man could
remember, had a birthday. On planets so remote that the unaided eye could
not see their suns among those twinkling to life above Oceania, men turned
dark and leathery, or thick and weary, by strange weathers lifted glasses
in salute. The light waves carrying their pledge would lap on his tomb.

Terra herself was less solemn. Except for the court, which still felt bound
to follow daylight around the globe, for one exhausting ceremony after
another, Birthday had become simply an occasion to hold carnival

Last, we see Lord Hauksberg reflecting on how past generations on Terra had once taken the Emperor's birthday far more seriously: "Fathers had taken their sons outdoors when twilight ended parades and feasts; they had pointed to the early stars and said,--Look yonder. Those are ours. We believe that as many as four million lie within the Imperial domain. Certainly a hundred thousand know us daily, obey us, pay tribute to us, and get peace and the wealth of peace in return. Our ancestors did that. Keep the faith."

Merry Christmas! Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Ideally, any filmed version of ENSIGN FLANDRY should include a scene showing Emperor Georgios presiding at one of those ceremonies honoring his birthday.

Merry Christmas! Sean