Planetside

The People Of The Wind, IX.

 Immediately after crash landing in Oronesia on Avalon, Rochefort and Helu engage in scientific discussion of the physical properties of the planet. It is beyond my abilities to summarize such a discussion at this time of night. Maybe I have have already done so earlier on the blog or I might tackle it tomorrow. 

There is a detailed description of their immediate environment and:

"Occasional sparks and streaks blinked up there - monstrous explosions in space." (p. 541)

There is a scene like this in one of the Star Wars films. Characters converse in the foreground while a space battle proceeds in the background. There is also a dramatic contrast between the peaceful island where the Terran combatants have landed and the destructive conflict still being waged in space. 

After a while:

"The gruesome little flashes overhead were dying away." (p. 543)

A change of scene informs us that Admiral Cajal has realised the need to:

"'Disengage... Withdraw... Regroup in wide orbits.'" (ibid.)

Avalon has won the first round.

Trap One

The People Of The Wind, VIII.

The Terran Admiral Cajal's flagship, Valenderay, classed among naval craft as a "Supernova," is even more powerful than the Avalonian Ferune's flagship, Hell Rock. However, the latter, an artificial planetoid, does not manoeuvre but remains in close orbit, drawing enemy fire. She is far too well armoured and defended to be damaged even by a large horde of small attack craft yet must be destroyed before the Terrans can threaten Avalon. Consequently, Cajal sends four capital ships and their attendants against her. He has fallen into the first trap. (There will be a second, on the planetary surface, later.) When the ground-based defence forces strike, Cajal loses significantly more of his fleet than he had expected to and is obliged to withdraw. Pretty smart stuff. Poul Anderson knew how to write military sf.

That devastating Avalonian strike has lethal consequences even for some of the planet's defenders but nevertheless it achieves its purpose of preventing immediate subjugation of the planet. Readers are mainly on the side of the defenders but also see the Terrans as good people. This is a story basically without villains. I am inclined to see Governor Saracoglu, who had promoted the war, in that role but he remains in the background. 

(That book cover rightly shows an Ythrian as winged and feathered but wrongly shows him as beaked.)

Daniel Holm's Office

The People Of The Wind, VIII.

In Daniel Holm's office:

a planetary map showing the secret camouflaged ground defence installations;

a holographic globe surrounded by lights representing recently launched space stations;

a display tank showing the battling space fleets.

Seen from his window:

shadowed Gray;

early dawn;

sheening bay;

purple sky;

stars blurred by negagrav screens changing pattern to allow air circulation;

cold, damp, restless winds;

serene countryside.

The narrator comments, or Holm reflects, that:

"The storms were beyond the sky and within the flesh." (p. 529)

Always within.

Gray is established as a real place by these frequent brief descriptions.

Three Good Guys

The People Of The Wind, VII.

As Admiral Cajal sits in the middle of the superdreadnaught, Valenderay, his chief executive captain relays:

"'...a report of initial hostilities from Vanguard Squadron Three. No details.'" (p. 515)

As Daniel Holm waits at home on Avalon, an Ythrian voice announces:

"'Contact with Terrans, about 12 a.u. out, direction of the Spears. Firing commenced on both sides, but seemingly no losses yet.'" (ibid.)

Poul Anderson gives us a glimpse of Avalon before advancing his war narrative. Holm looks out his window:

beautiful day;

autumn breeze;

salt odours;

glittering bay;

Laura and sky;

garden scents;

brilliant gardens;

distant hills;

blue haze;

skimming wings.

Holm does not notice. We should.

Ferune of Mistwood receives reports on his superdreadnaught flagship: 

combats; 

pincers from north and south; 

reserves approaching in the ecliptic.

Three good guys: one for Terra; two for Avalon. We will advance to a stage where good guys do not have to be on opposite sides - or we will not survive.

Valenderay And Duty

The People Of The Wind, VII.

"Cajal sat alone in the middle of the superdreadnaught Valenderay." (p. 514)

That is an excellent future historical detail because this superdreadnaught flag vessel is named after the supernova that had been the ultimate cause of Merseian resentment of Terrans in the trader team story, "Supernova"/"Day of Burning."

Admiral Cajal is safe going into battle because Valenderay stretches for kilometres around him! Also, most of the Terran fleet precedes the flag vessel toward the enemy.

"Man's duty in this life, [Cajal] thought, is to choose the lesser evil." (ibid.)

This is almost word for word the teaching of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Recently, the British Prime Minister, giving evidence to a public enquiry, swore on the Gita. I was not sure whether this was a Hindu practice but googling confirms that, at least for a while in India, Muslims swore on the Koran and Hindus on the Gita. Cajal, of course, would be a Bible man. He prays before a crucifix. Poul Anderson, like some other future historians, imagines the major Terrestrial religions exported to colonies on extra-solar planets. If human beings go there, then so will their beliefs.

Andrea, whom I visited today, is an expert amateur military historian and very pessimistic about the immediate future of this planet.

In The Nest

The People Of The Wind, VI.

One of my favourite scenes in Poul Anderson's Technic History is Christopher and Tabitha in the Nest.

Centauri is the second and only other city on Avalon after Gray. The Nest is the tallest building in Centauri. We are not told what is inside the building. A transparent canopy covers the unwalled rooftop tavern. Winged Ythrians and gravbelt-wearing human beings frequent the tavern and there is also a gravshaft. Stars, invisible from the street, are seen through the canopy. There is also a view of the River Sagittarius and the Gulf of Centaurs.

Dim fluoroglobes light tables and are circled by insectoids. Patrons drink from glasses or inhale from narcobraziers. Christopher and Tabitha hear a recorded steel harp. Sometimes bards perform. The human pair meet Eyath's fiance, Vodan, who is spending time with Quenna, a permanently on heat Ythrian female, before going to war in which he will be killed by the friendly fire of the Avalonian defence system - devised by the two Marchwardens who include Christopher's father - although, of course, no one can yet know whether or how Vodan is destined to die. He is just out in the Nest for some leave time like everyone else. A trundling service robot dispenses:

"...thick, strong New African beer." (p. 506)

We vicariously experience some everyday life on Avalon.

"Omnilingual"

See combox here.

OK. I have now read H. Beam Piper's "Omnilingual." So what do we think of it?

First, since we are on Poul Anderson Appreciation, are Piper and Anderson comparable? Terrohuman History and Technic History? Paratime Police and Time Patrol? I have read almost no Piper so cannot comment any further. 

"Omnilingual":

yet another extinct humanoid Martian race, including Canal Builders;

strangely, "Luna" misnamed "Lunar," an English adjective instead of a Latin noun, the same mistake as in the Dan Dare comic strip;

the story is about how to translate Martian.

It seems too easy. These Martians sound like an ancient Terrestrial civilization, not like an extra-terrestrial species. A University library has survived, its books and periodicals printed on something more durable than paper. The language is alphabetical with consonants and vowels (somehow) distinguishable. Texts read from left to right with gaps between words. The number system is decimal with a stylized hook meaning "plus" and a stylized knife meaning "minus." The year is divided into ten nearly equal months named "First" to "Tenth." The illustrated Periodic Table and other such scientific diagrams are visually recognizable with explanatory words composed of affixes and suffixes below them.

But how will the explorers translate the many other words that do not have scientific or mathematical meanings?

Flandry And Helm

An Intelligence agent tells so many cover stories that he might suddenly realize that one of them corresponds to the facts. I have found two fictional examples.

Dominic Flandry:

"He was naive, wide-eyed, pathetically hoping to accomplish something for Mother Terra, simultaneously impressed by what he saw here. In wry moments he admitted to himself that this was hardly a faked character..."

-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER ELEVEN, pp. 105-106.

(No one can possibly know that, nearly three decades later, Flandry's son will be impressed enough with the Merseians to work covertly for them.)

Matt Helm:

"I hoped I'd given it the right buildup: the arrogant, ruthless, unscrupulous government emissary prepared to stop at nothing to protect the reputation of his agency. Come to think of it, that wasn't so far offbase."

-Donald Hamilton, The Intriguers (London, 2025), 17, p. 173.

Two men at opposite ends of their careers: Flandry need not fake naivety; Helm need not fake unscrupulousness. Later, Flandry need not fake the latter...

Tomorrow, I visit Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop, this time for some Italian home cooking, so there might be quite a gap in blogging.

Other Anticipations

The People Of The Wind.

On reflection, that list of people anticipating the Terran-Ythrian war is not really very comprehensive. Sean suggested that there could have been a scene with the interstellar diplomats trying to head off the conflict. I can think of at least two other possible extra scenes. First, the causes of the war include:

"'That there have been bloody clashes over disputed territories and conflicting interests.'" (III, p. 473)

Tales from the wild frontier?

By contrast, on Esperance, formerly a pacifist colony, Eve Davisson tells Philippe Rochefort:

"'I shan't join the demonstrators...'" (IV, p. 488)

One part of a single sentence is the only indication that there were anti-war demos on the planet called Esperance in the system of the star called Pax! I would want a film adaptation to show such a demonstration - and to do it right. The film makers could get real demonstrators to stage it for them. There was a Roger Moore film where a crowd of what looked like otherwise isolated individuals stood still chanting the single word, "Peace!," in dirge-like tones, then one of them tried to fake evidence of police violence! (Thankfully, I do not remember the title of the film.)

I was pleased when Dominic Flandry and Kossara Vymezal marched on the Dennitzan Parliament with Dennitzans of Merseian descent in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. There have got to be some street politics in Technic civilization. In fact, Flandry refers to other such occasions.

Preparation And Anticipation

The People of the Wind.

Both in its preparation and in its implementation, a war has to affect a very large number of individuals with completely different lives and aspirations. Poul Anderson shows us this happening. The coming war between Terra and Ythri is anticipated by:

Daniel Holm and his son, Christopher;

Christopher and his childhood Ythrian friend, Eyath;

Daniel Holm and the other Marchwarden, Ferune;

Christopher Holm and Tabitha Falkayn;

Eyath and her fiance, Vodan;

the Governor and the Admiral's daughter;

Philippe Rochefort and his crew;

Rochefort and Eve Davisson;

the President of the Parliament, the High Wyvan and the two Marchwardens;

Christopher and Tabitha again, this time meeting Vodan -

- the war starts -

the Admiral and the Governor...

From this point on, the war is no longer "coming."

Organising The Guards

The People Of The Wind.

When Christopher Holm visited Tabitha Falkayn in Oronesia, he was not yet chief of the West Coronan guard because that guard had not been organised yet. When they both attend a joint conference of their two guards and others and the Seamen's Brotherhood in Centauri, he is a top officer in his guard and she is aide to her business partner, Draun, also of Highsky Choth, who has become her superior in the North Oronesian guard. Finally, at the Great Khruath, Christopher is the chief of his guard and their two guards are still extending their cooperation. If we forget this process, then we project later stages back onto times before they had happened. This is a more general principle, of course. Someone who is asked, "Why did you not act on that information?" might be able to answer: "Because I did not yet have that information at that earlier date."

Avalon has inherited a military tradition from the Troubles, as also have Aeneas and Dennitza. In addition, most Avalonians are used to hunting in groups. They are used to cooperating and some of them will now enjoy hunting Terrans.

Mythological Names In The Lauran System

The People Of The Wind, VI.

The sun is Laura, a name with Classical associations.

The planet, Elysium, is described as "...sun-wracked..." (p. 503) so it must be close to Laura as Mercury is to Sol.

Camelot has multiple moons so it sounds like Jupiter.

Utgard is "...dark..." and "comet-haunted..." (ibid.) so it is in the outer system.

Phaeacia, a planet of "...frigid blue peace...," (ibid.) inspires Christopher Holm to quote Homer so that Tabitha Falkayn asks:

"...what else this Homer fellow had written..." (ibid.)

Homer did not write anything although Hesiod did.

Homer and Hesiod initiated European literature, thus the tradition that led to Poul Anderson - who wrote on the western edge of the Earth beyond Oceanus.

Five Senses And Conversation On Esperance

The People Of The Wind, IV.

Philippe Rochefort and Eve Davisson:

"...sat in an intimate restaurant of Fleurville..." (p. 487)

through the window beside their table, they see gardens and stars;

they hear old, sentimental music played by a live sonorist;

their nostrils detect mildly intoxicant vapours;

they taste hors d'oeuvres and champagne;

Eve's grip tightens on her glass as they discuss the impending war.

I quoted Rochefort before as saying that he believed in:

"'...being what you are and standing by your own.'" (p. 488)

He had said this in response to Eve's remark:

"'I get an impression you disapprove of a mixed colony.'" (ibid.)

- to which he replied:

"'Well...in a way, yes.'" (ibid.)

No way, man. If, by "being what you are and standing by your own," he means that human beings and Ythrians should not jointly colonize a planet, then forget it. He objects to the two species influencing each other. But they inhabit the same universe and each is part of the other's environment. Prevention of influence is neither desirable nor even possible.

Ythrian Consciousness

Poul Anderson appreciation overlaps with philosophy.

Philosophical Analysis of Four Levels of Consciousness

(i) and (ii) animal sensations and perceptions.

(iii) and (iv) human (and other) intelligence and contemplation.

Sensation, inner: hunger; indigestion; nausea; headache; euphoria.

Sensation, outer: skin contact with wet or dry, hot or cold etc environments.

Perception: discernment of discrete objects against their environmental backgrounds.

Intelligence: the ability to think and reason about objects and their environments.

Contemplation: unitive apprehension incorporating but transcending intellectual comprehension.

Humanity, and Ythrianity etc, incorporates and transcends animality.

Realization of contemplation is not regression to mere sensation.

An Ythrian:

does not need clothes;

pumps oxygen directly into his blood stream by flapping his wings;

flies;

has nictitating membranes to protect his eyes when flying at speed into wind and rain;

can hunt and kill live prey;

genetically, is intensely territorial.

Try to imagine Ythrians' sensations and perceptions. Poul Anderson conceptualizes their psychology, sociology and theology.

Standing By Your Own

The People Of The Wind, IV.

Philippe Rochefort:

"'I believe in being what you are and standing by your own.'" (p. 488)

Who are his own? Human beings? Everyone in the Terran Empire? "Our own" can be extended a long way. Or not. Look at the world now. 

Someone once said to me, "You've had a better education than a lot of other people in the world so you've got to defend that." Defend it in what sense? Defend and maintain educational standards in Britain? Certainly. Prevent others from reaching the same standards? Certainly not.

Rochefort:

"'To the extent that man is the leading race - furnishes most of the leaders - in Technic civilization, yes, I suppose you'd have to call me a human supremacist,' he admitted." (ibid.)

Keep it that way forever? Not necessarily.

We now have a Hindu British Prime Minister and a Muslim Scottish First Minister. (We are all human beings, of course.)

Thor And Ansa

The People Of The Wind, IV.

The Terran fleet includes:

"...the Planet-class cruisers, Thor and Ansa..." (p. 477)

Thor, of course, is a Norse god, mentioned in Poul Anderson's War Of The Gods. Ansa is a planet forcibly annexed by the Terran Empire in the previous Technic History instalment, "Sargasso of Lost Starships." However, that planet was named after:

"'...warlike, masculine sky-gods, the Anses or Aesir.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 467-640 AT 11, p. 465.

And Thor was an Ansa or As. (Plurals: Anses; Aesir.)

Thus again, names encapsulate much history and, in this case, both refer back to Norse mythology. 

Choth Decision-Making

The People Of The Wind.

The Domain of Ythri is a loose federation, not an empire. Avalon has a human Parliament whose functions are limited both because the planet is sparsely populated and because of Ythrian influence. There are also about a hundred choths on Avalon alone. Each choth is fully democratic but also completely sovereign. They will never surrender their sovereignty to any equivalent of the Solar Commonwealth, let alone the Terran Empire. Daniel Holm has to accept that Domain defence will never be centralized or unified. Avalon must try to cooperate with other Domain planets while also not expecting much outside help.

Every free adult member of a choth votes in the Great Khruath that decides to continue the war against Terra. Before that, individual choths had had to decide whether to support proposed defence measures. Three choths refused. The Wyvans:

"'...threatened to call Oherran on them.'" (V, p. 494)

The three choths yielded.

Wyvans interpret and apply the law. Oherran would mean calling on all other choths to take action against the three. Action could mean slaughter, enslavement and division of spoils or just arrest and exile of named leaders - but, in any case, potential civil war. Either way, it would be a deathpride matter. If the other choths had refused to take action, then the Wyvans would have had no alternative but suicide. I would welcome the full democracy of Khruaths but would prefer to live under human law until a choth could be founded that would reject the deathpride concept. In such a choth, a Wyvan whose cry of Oherran was not accepted would merely resign and Oherrans would fall short of demanding slaughter or enslavement.

The President of the Parliament of Man is shaken to learn, in confidence, that the High Wyvan:

"...had threatened to rip Avalon asunder." (p. 498)

Future Historical References II

The People Of The Wind, III.

See Future Historical References.

Another reference in Saracoglu's conversation was so understated that I had missed it:

"''We - interpenetrate - with others - and have no trouble.'

"'Of course. Why should we fight with hydrogen breathers, for example? They're so exotic we can hardly communicate with them.'" (pp. 474-475)

The previously published instalments implicitly referred to are:

"Wings of Victory"

"A Sun Invisible"

"Territory"

"Day of Burning"

Satan's World

"Wingless"

"Rescue on Avalon"

"The Star Plunderer"

"Hunters of the Sky Cave" (set later)

- at least.

I have to go out to our annual Lancaster Holocaust Memorial event.

Five Teams

Nicholas van Rijn's first trade pioneer crew was a human being, a Wodenite and a Cynthian.

One Terran Meteor crew in The People Of The Wind was two human beings and a Cynthian.

The new team in The Game Of Empire is a human being, a Wodenite and a Tigery.

A Ranger team in "Starfog," is one human being and his conscious ship-computer.

A Coordination Service crew in "The Pirate," in Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, is one human being and a Reardonite.

Lessons (if any):

each of these teams has at least one human being;

it is good to mix species in teams in sf stories;

fictional species can be re-deployed to good effect.  

Future Historical References

The People Of The Wind, III.

Ekrem Saracoglu's conversation is rich in future historical references:

"'...the Antoranite-Kraokan complex around Beta Centauri...'" (p. 473);

Dathyna;

Merseia;

the Grand Survey ship that discovered Ythri and Avalon;

joint human-Ythrian colonization of Avalon;

the Troubles;

the founding of the Terran Empire;

the fact that he is discussing all this on the planet Esperance and with a young woman from Nuevo Mexico.

But he also adds new information:

Avalon had been under Ythrian protection from the outset;

it was this that led to some Ythrians joining the colony;

Ythri had responded to the Troubles by building its Domain just as Terra had responded with the Empire.

Human Choth Members

The People Of The Wind.

By the time of the Great Khruath in Chapter XI, Christopher Holm is:

"'...the chief of the West Coronan guard.'" (p. 563)

- but I am not sure that he held that position when he flew to St. Li to open negotiations with Tabitha Falkyan in Chapter III. She observes that:

"'You had to be a delegate, of course. Your area has so few of your kind.'" (p. 466)

So he has come because he is human? Stormgate and other West Coronan choths have so few human members? But, in Chapter I, Chris had told his father:

"'Listen, the choths have been accepting humans for the past hundred years.'" (p. 439)

He estimates that a quarter of Highsky:

"...must be human by now." (III, p. 467)

But Highsky is Tabitha's Oronesian choth so maybe she is contrasting it with West Corona?

However, shortly after the events of The People Of The Wind, Hloch of Stormgate writes:

"...because of its nearness to populous Gray, our choth receives more humans into membership than most. Hence we younglings grew up friendly with many of this race..."

-The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, December 2009), pp. 75-76.

Be that as it may, Tabitha asks why he had wanted to meet her specifically. She is a descendant of David Falkayn which means much in Corona even if not in Oronesia. Also, they are already acquainted and she can introduce him to the right people. There will be both human and Ythrian conferences as a preliminary to full cooperation. Presumably Ythrian conferences will be through the Wyvans. This explains why the initial human contact seems so informal.

Two Conversations On Avalon

The People Of The Wind.

Chapter II: Daniel Holm And Ferune In Ferune's Office

Twice while confiding with Ferune about his problems with his son, Christopher, Holm looks out the window of Ferune's office. We know from what we have already read that he is seeing, although maybe not noticing, the view of Gray and Falkayn Bay. On that Bay, a cargo vessel had been coming in from Brendan's Islands. Now Holm mentions the Shielding Islands where Christopher had hidden for a year. Where are these islands?

Chapter III describes the single large northern continent, three much smaller southern continents and the Oronesia archipelago and adds:

"All else consists of far smaller islands." (p. 464)

Chapter XI informs us that the Brendan's, Fiery and Shielding Islands are to the south and east of Oronesia. Western Coronan and Northern Oronesian defence cooperation has extended to the whole archipelago and it is hoped that it will next extend further to integrate these islands.

Chapter III: Christopher Holm And Tabitha Falkayn On St. Li

"'Hello, Christopher Holm,' she said in Anglic.

"'I come as Arinnian,' he answered in Planha. 'Luck fare beside you, Hrill.'" (p. 465)

Ythrians do not entreat deities but do wish for luck.

This dialogue should be filmed with Tabitha speaking English and Christopher speaking Planha with subtitles. Or maybe Tabitha should speak Anglic with subtitles?

She says that the Terran Empire has grown since Manuel the First. Thus, Manuel Argos from two instalments previously has become a historical figure like David Falkayn. The latter can also be referred to without being named. Later in Chapter III, Imperial Governor Ekrem Saracoglu summarizes Avalonian history, including the detail that the planet was colonised by:

"'...humans, a mixed lot under the leadership of an old trade pioneer...'" (p. 476)

Tabitha also mentions that the Cynthians voluntarily joined the Empire, thus increasing our already existing knowledge of that inhabited planet. History permeates everything that is said. 

On St. Li In Oronesia

The People Of The Wind, III.

Tabitha Falkayn/Hrill of Highsky to Christopher Holm/Arinnian of Stormgate:

"'I daresay your Khruath decided that western Corona and northern Oronesia must work out a means of defending the Hesperian Sea.'

"He nodded awkwardly..." (p. 465)

Sure. The Sea is between the continent and the archipelago. But are the Hesperian Islands themselves not still inhabited? Later, in Chapter XI, High Wyvan Liaw of The Tarns will address the Greath Khruath of Avalon from outside David Falkayn's house on First Island. But have the Islands been depopulated and transformed into symbols and museums?

Meanwhile, when Arinnian visits Hrill on St. Li:

a sailor scouts for piscoids;

a herder and his uhoths control a flock of Ythrian shuas;

Avalonian pteropleuron lumber about;

native susin still grows on upper slopes;

lower down, Ythrian clustergrain grows to feed shuas;

coconuts, mangos, oranges and pumpernickels grow for human Highsky members.

"A wind blew, warm but fresh, full of salt and iodine and fragrances." (p. 466)

Poul Anderson's winds usually mean something. This one seems to mean life.

Ferune's Office

The People Of The Wind, II.

Ferune of Mistwood Choth is First Marchwarden of the Lauran System. Since we are looking for scenes set on Avalon, we notice that Ferune's office in the Lauran Admiralty has a large window opening onto:

"...garden-scented breezes and a downhill view of Gray and the waters aglitter beyond." (p. 454)

This might not sound like very much. However, in Chapter I, we shared Arinnian's enjoyment of his aerial view of Gray, Falkayn Bay and the Hesperian Sea. Therefore, this view through Ferune's window now means quite a lot to any reader who appreciates such sensory details. 

There is one more such detail in this chapter. Daniel Holm, Second Marchwarden, visits his superior's office. They converse and:

"For a while, silence dwelt in the room. The yellow light of Laura cast leaf shadows on the floor. They quivered." (p. 456)

How many sf authors would have added such a detail? It immensely enhances our sense of these two beings discussing their war preparations and pausing for reflection. Far from existing in a vacuum, they live and breathe on Avalon in the Lauran System in the Domain of Ythri. We should continually remember this and their author ensures that we do.

Holm And Avalon

The People Of The Wind, Chapter II opens:

"Avalon rotates in 11 hours, 22 minutes, 12 seconds, on an axis tilted 21 degrees from the normal to the orbital plane. Gray, at about 43 degrees N., knows short nights always; in summer the darkness seems scarcely a blink." (p. 452)

The first sentence reads like the omniscient narrator imparting physical information directly to the reader. In the second sentence, the phrase, "...the darkness seems...," maybe reflects the collective experience of the Avalonians rather than just another fact about their environment. However, the third sentence, which completes the opening paragraph, reads:

"Daniel Holm wondered if that was a root of his weariness." (p. 452)

Thus, we learn that the entire paragraph, and indeed the entire ensuing chapter, are narrated from the point of view of Daniel Holm who had conversed with his son, Christopher, at the beginning of Chapter I. It is Holm that knows and reflects on Avalon's rotation period. The omniscient narrator, who is always present however marginally, has been pushed further into the background.

Holm goes on to reflect that his ancestors have lived on Avalon for centuries and indeed had:

"...arrived with Falkayn." (ibid.)

David Falkayn, whom we first saw as a Polesotechnic League apprentice, has become a historical figure. That is what happens in future histories. When James Blish's John Amalfi, preserved for centuries by antiagathics, revisits the planet, He, he learns to his embarrassment that the highest mountain on the planet has been named Mount Amalfi.

On Avalon, the city of Gray is on Falkayn Bay:

the Grand Survey ship, Olga, under Captain Gray discovered Avalon;

David Falkayn founded the colony on Avalon;

Falkayn's granddaughter named the planet.  

Choth Life

In "Wingless," the Weathermaker Choth is a single extended household, its core families housed in a tall, balconied stone tower overlooking:

a paved courtyard;

rambling wooden buildings;

meadows grazed by meat animals;

a mixed Terrestrial-Ythrian ecology of grass, clover, starbell, wry, oak, pine, braidbark and copperwood;

beyond that cultivated area, native susin, chasuble bush, janie and, when Nat Falkayn looks out from a balcony, a flock of draculas in flight.

In The People Of The Wind, the Stormgate Choth occupies the Andromeda Range and includes Lythran's extended household whose senior members and their children are housed in an old stone tower in the middle of a plateau of Mount Fairview. Unmarried family members and retainers with their families live in lower wooden buildings with amberdragon and starbells growing on their roofs. Between these buildings, and also between the sheds, barns and mews, grow Ythrian trees:

braidbark

copperwood

lightningrod

jewelleaf

- and native flowers:

janie

livewell

Buddha's cup

harp vine

There are no native Avalonians to bestow names like "Buddha's cup"! All the names have to be either Anglic or Planha.

Apart from a few maintenance staff, Lythran's entire household flies under its own power to the regional Khruath on another mountain, the only exception being Arinnian who, lacking wings, flies with a gravbelt. En route, they meet other Stormgate families. At the Khruath, they meet members of other choths. We might have appreciated a description of the territory that they fly over. Instead, we read a traditional carol sung by Eyath and translated into Anglic by Arinnian which contains the memorable line:

"High is heaven and holy." (I, p. 452)

We know that an Ythrian's business activities need not be confined to within his or her own choth because youths from Stormgate, Many Thermals and The Tarns have founded a silvicultural engineering firm. We read in Chapter V that inter-species economic activities are a wonderland.

Avalon As A Real Place

The People Of The Wind.

Avalon seems like a real place because:

there is a wealth of environmental and geographical detail;

there is recognizable historical change and progression;

many individual characters live there.

Arinnian sets off to fly from Gray on Falkayn Bay to Lythran's eyrie in the Weathermother and passes over the countryside outside the town. We would like to accompany him on his long journey over Avalon. However, after a double space between paragraphs, Arinnian is suddenly found to be benched with young Ythrians in the dining hall at Lythran's and Blawsa's place. A narrative, unlike real life, can jump ahead in time! He is not seated close to his childhood friend, Eyath, daughter of his host and hostess, but she and he exchange a look and leave the dining hall together. They sit on a platform near the top of a copperwood. The different kinds of trees are described in detail. The human male and Ythrian female see the moon, Morgana, and the constellations, Wheel, Swords, Zirraukh and Ship.

A real place - that will suffice until human beings really do colonize extra-solar planets.

Arinnian Over Gray And Falkayn Bay

The People Of The Wind.

My favourite prose passage in this novel is the conclusion:

"Snowpeaks flamed. The sun stood up in a shout of joy.

"High is heaven and holy." (XIX, p. 662)

These two short paragraphs are comparable to the conclusions of A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows and "Star of the Sea," which I have also quoted.

My favourite scene in The People Of The Wind is in Chapter I when Arinnian, ascending from Gray on antigrav, enjoys the view. We have described this scene before and need not repeat every detail but they include:

the town of Gray sprawling among green trees and susin and colourful gardens on hills surrounding Falkayn Bay;

the Hesperian Sea, sun-flared silver, horizonward sapphire;

a cargo vessel from Brendan's Islands;

above, patrolling space warcraft (war is imminent);

on the inland horizon, the Andromedas/the Weathermother;

outside Gray, Ythrian ranches, human farms and native ecology.

We can see why the colonists settled the Hesperian Islands before tackling this Coronan continent. Beyond Hesperia and over the horizon is Oronesia. We will learn more about that archipelago and also about Brendan's and other islands later in this novel.

It is human beings that build cities, only two on Avalon: Gray and Centauri. But some Ythrians live in highrises in Gray. Thus have the two species come to intermingle. Christopher Holm/Arinnian has joined Highsky Choth which is based in the Weathermother but has agreed with his parents that he will remain in Gray to complete his mathematical studies. Choths have been accepting human members for the past century. Thus, Avalonian history has progressed a long way from "Rescue on Avalon."

Choth Membership

"...because of its nearness to populous Gray, our choth receives more humans into membership than most."

-Poul Anderson, INTRODUCTION WINGS OF VICTORY IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, December 2009), pp. 75-77 AT pp. 75-76.

Although advertised here as the introduction to only one story, this passage in fact introduces the entire The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

This passage and The People Of The Wind are the only places where we read about human membership of choths. When Christopher Holm is Arinnian of Stormgate, he speaks Anglic as if interpreting from Planha. Like many other "birds," he imitates Ythrians by not wearing clothes except, e.g., when he needs a coverall and boots to fly by gravbelt from Gray to Lythran's eyrie in the Weathermother. He prefers individual flight to much faster travel by aircar.

"Birds" live under choth law and custom. If I were a human Avalonian, then I would want to join a choth and participate in Khruaths, not Parliament, but it would have to be a choth that combined (what some of us would regard as) the best of human and Ythrian customs. Thus, no deathpride or duels and Oherran only by boycott, not by violence. These terms are explained elsewhere on this blog. Would Wyvans accept such a choth? The choth would appoint its own Wyvans. We are given to understand first that choths vary a great deal and secondly that both species influence each other so I think that my proposal would receive some support.

Donovan And Holm

"for we're riding out to Terran sky!

"Terran sky! Terran sky!"

-Poul Anderson, "Sargasso of Lost Starships" IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 367-436 AT p. 436.

A song sung by Basil Donovan who had resisted the Terran Empire but has now been incorporated into it. These words could mean either riding out to fight Terrans or riding out to claim sky for Terra:

"The thought came all at once that it could be a song of comradeship, too." (ibid.)

"'You can't leave now,' Daniel Holm told his son. 'Any day we could be at war. We may already be.'"

-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Rise Of The Terran Empire, pp. 437-662 AT I, p. 437.

Points to note:

by "we," Holm means Avalon;

by "at war," he means "at war against the Terran Empire";

that is the same Terran Empire that had annexed Donovan's home planet, Ansa, a century previously;

Donovan sings on p. 436 and Holm speaks on p. 437, unusually without any interval of a blank page or an internal title page;

"Sargasso of Lost Starships" was first published in January, 1952, whereas The People Of The Wind was first published in February-April, 1973;

thus, we can expect to find major differences in the writing despite the retroactively decreed proximity of these two works as instalments of a single future history series.

The Earth Book And A Novel

The Afterword to the Earth Book includes the sentence:

"Now The Earth Book of Stormgate is ended."

-Poul Anderson, AFTERWORD IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), p. 323.

It is signed:

"Hloch of the Stormgate Choth

"The Earthbook of Stormgate" (ibid.)

"Earth Book" is correct because it appears on book covers, title pages and dust jackets.

Because we are currently studying Avalon and have reread the relevant Earth Book instalments, we now return to The People Of The Wind which provides the background for Hloch's Earth Book introductions. The short stories have established that Avalonian geography includes Hesperian Islands and a Coronan continent but the novel discloses several further details.

Ecologies On Avalon

"Rescue on Avalon."

"While men and Ythrians could eat many of the same things, each diet lacked certain essentials of the other. For that matter, native Avalonian life did not hold adequate nutrition for either colonizing race. The need to maintain separate ecologies was a major reason why they tended to live apart." (pp. 318-319)

The two species had seemed to be practising segregation but this was only a preliminary, albeit long-term, precaution. The Wyvan of Stormgate says:

"'Indeed, the time is over-past for our two kinds to intermingle freely.'" (p. 322)

Indeed, later, human beings will join choths and many from Gray, when it exists, will join Stormgate. 

Was Jack Birnam unwise to hike alone in the Weathermother? By our current rules, yes. The story shows that high tech can minimize but maybe not eliminate the dangers. Ayan, the Wyvan, scouting their new territory for his choth, had not known that it was wrong for an individual to venture unaccompanied under ironleaf trees which impede emergency calls by absorbing radio waves. The trees draw metal from the soil and concentrate particles. Thus, their leaves shine and attract bugs. Evolution finds a use for metal.  

Technology And Nature

"Rescue on Avalon."

Because none of his friends are free to accompany him, Jack Birnam hikes alone into the Weathermother where, as often on rapidly spinning Avalon, there is a sudden storm. His sleeping bag with hood and breathing mask can keep him warm at lower than Avalonian temperatures. A duraplast sheet keeps off hail and debris. Explosive pegs hold the collapsible alloy frame firm in the bedrock. His pocket transceiver can summon an aircar from a nearby rescue station if necessary - as long as the storm does not prevent air travel. Thus, technology more or less keeps a lone individual safe in a wilderness.

Ayan, Wyvan of Stormgate, flies into the Weathermother, wearing only belt, pouch and dagger. Ythrians, unclothed and able to hunt live prey, are considerably closer to nature than their fellow Avalonians of human stock.

Ivar Holm points out to Jack that, in an inter-species exchange, human beings gained fertile prairies and lost only mountains which are humanly useful only for recreation and then only by a few. This is an excellent story of inter-species cooperation.

Corona

Peter and Olga Berg were in a base on the southern shore of Corona. A strong current ran east from a great gulf and struck an archipelago which would be the Oronesia. Beyond Oronesia is the Hesperian archipelago and, beyond that, around the curve of the planet, the western coast of Corona. Is that "great gulf" the Gulf of Centaurs where the second Avalonian city, Centauri, will be built? Jack Birnam's family were sea ranchers dwelling on the west coast of Corona. Did they live on or near Falkayn Bay where the first city, Gray, would later be built?

We see Corona in three periods: when it is being explored, when it is being settled and when it has long been settled. There is also an intermediate period when the Hesperian Islands have been settled and a research and development team is planning the colonization of Corona so that there will then be some exploratory expeditions to the continent.

Within the Technic History, there is an Avalonian history.

Old And New In A Future History Series

Later instalments of a future history series build on earlier instalments and also add new information. In Poul Anderson's Technic History, the last instalment to feature Dominic Flandry, The Game Of Empire, introduces the Patrician System with its two colonized planets, Imhotep and Daedalus. We have never heard of either of these planets before so this is definitely new information. Starkadian land- and sea-dwellers have been settled on Imhotep and the planet is visited by one Wodenite. Cynthians and Donarrians have settled on Daedalus and the planet is visited by several Merseians. My point here is that all six of these species had already existed in the Technic History. Regular readers are already familiar with Merseians etc but will also learn more about most of them here. That is how rich this future history series is. When, on Imhotep, Diana Crowfeather overhears a Terran Marine complaining about "Merseian bastards," we know that we are on familiar territory but that we will probably also learn a lot more as in fact we do not only about the Patrician System but also about the Zacharians and about a second offspring of Dominic Flandry.

Names

Names encapsulate history. Pope John Paul II was named after his predecessor who was named after his two predecessors who were named after two authors of the New Testament. One was named after the first King of Israel. The other bore a Biblical "J -" name, incorporating the Mosaic divine name.

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, two surnames and one inherited Christian name conduct the narrative through a series of historical transitions:

in "Wingless," Nicholas Falkayn speaks to his son, Nathaniel;

in "Rescue on Avalon," Ivar Holm speaks to Jack Birnam;

in The People Of The Wind, Daniel Holm converses with his son, Christopher, who marries Tabitha Falkayn;

in The Earth Book Of Stormgate, Hloch informs his readers about Nicholas van Rijn and David and Coya Falkayn and presents narratives written or co-written by Christopher Holm.

After these transitions, there are no more Falkayns or Holms and our attention shifts to one Flandry.

Avalonian Choths And Geography

Poul Anderson, "Rescue on Avalon" IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 307-323.

"Choths differed as much in their ways as human nations did..." (p. 310)

In the early days, when only the Hesperian Islands had been colonized, the Weathermaker Choth comprised only an "...extended household..." ("Wingless," p. 297) Centuries later, choths on the northern polar continent of Corona each had thousands of members at least. By that time, it had become unusual that:

"In Oronesia, there were single households that bore the name..." (The People Of The Wind, III, p. 464)

- and, even more unusual that:

"...grown and married, the younger children were expected to found new, independent societies." (ibid.)

Gray, the larger of only two cities on Avalon, is on the west coast of Corona. Inland from Gray, are the Andromeda mountains called the Weathermother by Ythrians and occupied by the Stormgate Choth. Christopher Holm lives in Gray and is Arinnian of Stormgate. Two thousand kilometres west from Gray is the Oronesia archipelago stretching almost to the Antarctic Circle, much of it occupied, despite those unusual small choths, by the fisheries-controlling Highsky Choth. Tabitha Falkayn is Hrill of Highsky. In the northern hemisphere, Oronesia divides the eastern Hesperian Sea from the western Middle Ocean. This is meant to impart some information about where various characters live at different times. 

Small continents or large islands in the South Ocean are Equatoria, New Africa and New Gaiila. There are other smaller islands. 

We want to go there or even feel that we have been there.

Inter-Species Cooperation

"Wingless."

We notice optimal connectivity between the Ythrian instalments of Poul Anderson's Technic History. The curved boards for lateral resistance that Tabitha Falkayn explains to Philippe Rochefort are also explained, in slightly greater detail, by the Ythrian Keshchyi to Nat Falkayn. The boat is faster, with no water drag, because these boards interact with the wind in a particular way. The atlantis weed introduced in "The Problem of Pain" is central to the plot of "Wingless" because one of Keshchyi's wings becomes tangled in it and Nat has to go under water to free him from it. "Wingless" was originally published in Boy's Life as "Wingless on Avalon" and could have been called "Rescue on Avalon" but that is the title of the companion story. In both, a young human male rescues an Ythrian and some prejudices are overcome: Ythrian prejudice in the first story; human in the second. Nat envies the Ythrians' ability to swoop around in the air but then realizes that he can do much the same in the sea which they cannot.

These two stories are thought experiments in inter-species cooperation and an antithesis to military sf which Anderson also did well.

Ythrians At Sea And In Space

Why do Ythrians sail, as they do in "Wingless"? They can fly over water and are helpless if they fall into it, as happens in "Wingless." There is way more water on Avalon than on Ythri so maybe sailing is a sport that Ythrians learned on Avalon? And under human influence? Whatever the influence, they are better at it than human beings.

Rochefort: "'No keel? What do they do for lateral resistance?'"

Tabitha, pointing at curved boards pivoting in response to vanes: "'Those. The design's Ythrian. They know more about the ways of wind than men and men's computers can imagine.'"

-Poul Anderson, The People of The Wind (Riiverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT XI. p. 567.

Ythrians are less apt in space. They cannot be enclosed in spacesuits or even in spacecraft without large viewports. They need room to spread their wings and their interstellar craft must have a large hold for them to fly about in.

Ythrians are people of the wind, not of the void.

Planha

Nat Falkayn has learned the Ythrian language, Planha, which means that he has learned not only how to understand and utter certain sounds but also how to understand signs and symbols communicated by ripples across entire feathered bodies. At least, he has learned some of the conventional expressions although he comes to feel like a deaf-mute when he has spent days among Ythrians who converse like this all the time.

We find this aspect of Ythrian communication elsewhere, e.g.:

"'You had something to tell me,' she said with two words and her body."

-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT XIX, p. 653.

Six words in Anglic, at least in our ancient Anglic: two words and some ripples in Planha.

"You are troubled, Thuriak said, not with his voice."

-"Wingless," p. 297.

Three words in Anglic. None in Planha.

Judith Lundgren describes "Yhtrian plumage" as "Infinitely variable..." (ibid.)

Perhaps like Poul Anderson's texts.

God's Moods

"Wingless."

"Had God been in a more joyful mood when He made the Ythrians than when He made man?" (p. 298)

Here we go again with meanings of "God." Literal or metaphorical? If literal, how anthropomorphic? A large invisible man who is in a good mood one day and a bad mood the next? I suspect, of course, that Nat's question is metaphorical, meaning: "Is it as if God had been in a more joyful mood...?"

But, if we assume a theistic doctrine, then how does God create the two species? Does He plan and initiate a universe in which such species must evolve? If so, then this is a single creative act. The idea that He could be in different moods for the different species must remain metaphorical or, if literal, then very anthropomorphic.

Such phrases invariably recur, especially in the works of a serious and reflective writer like Poul Anderson, but maybe we should just pass them by instead of commenting every time?

Ythrian Psychology

With two short stories and most of a novel, Avalon fills just under half of The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume I, Rise Of The Terran Empire. The other half, also a novel and two shorter works, covers human history in the League, then the Troubles, then the Empire.

In "Wingless," young Ythrians interact with one young human being. Keshchyi, taking flight, whistles, trumpets and challenges:

"'What are you waiting for, you mudfeet?'" (p. 296)

Keshchyi's less impetuous cousin, Thuriak, asks Nat Falkayn, who is able join them in the air with his gravbelt, whether he is coming. At this stage of the narrative, the Ythrians might come across just as human youths with wings. However, the earlier story, "The Problem of Pain," had shown us their alien attitude to suffering and death. Before taking off, Nat reflects on the differences between the species:

"...the Ythrians were alien, and not just in their society. In their bones, their flesh, the inmost molecules of their genes, they were not human. It was no use pretending otherwise." (pp. 297-298)

"They were pure carnivores, born hunters. Maybe that was the reason why they allowed, yes, encouraged their young to go off and do reckless things, accepting stoically the fact that the unfit and the unlucky would not return alive -" (p. 298)

Nat thinks about molecules, genes, bones, flesh, carnivores, hunting and finally psychology which arises from biology. Regular readers know that the philosophical mind-body problem is a sub-theme of this blog. Imagining alien psychology helps us to address the problem. To list the properties of a psychophysical organism as observed by others is not to describe the organism as experienced by itself. The organism's brain is part of the organism as observed by others whereas the organism's consciousness is its observations of everything else. So no wonder they are different. But how do objective processes generate subjectivity? Any attempted explanation just describes another set of objective processes.

Avalon And History

Reading The Technic Civilization Saga, Volumes I-III (of VII), we find Hloch mentioning Avalon in his first Earth Book introduction and a description of the planet in "The Problem of Pain." Volume III collects:

Mirkheim, the last Polesotechnic League instalment;

"Wingless" and "Rescue on Avalon," about the two-stage colonization of Avalon;

"The Star Plunderer," about the Time of Troubles;

"Sargasso of Lost Starships," about the early Terran Empire;

The People Of The Wind, about the Terran-Ythrian War and in particular about its effects on Avalon.

Thus, a future history in a single volume. By contrast, Volumes IV-VI and the first half of VII are set within the lifetime of a single individual. The Technic History incorporates both fictional history - mainly League and Empire - and fictional biography - mainly Falkayn and Flandry.

Avalon receives more coverage than Hermes or Dennitza. The Technic History also presents the histories of the interactions of both Ythrians and Merseians with Technic civilization.