Nicholas van Rijn calls the t'Kelan Ancients:
local big cheeses
Oldsters
Seniles
snakes squatting on a mountain
those fellows on the mountain
Old Fogies
those Gaffers on the mountain
the Geezers
the Graybeards
the Gaffers
(one of them) that old hippopotamus
He says that they need sense beaten in and sharp things thrown at them and, eventually, that they can be incorporated into his company's operation on t'Kela. What matters to van Rijn is what a social group or caste can do now, not their inherited prestige. Consequently, he refuses from the start to refer to this group by its collective honorific, "Ancients."
Before human beings arrived, the Ancients, survivors of a lost civilization, had indeed played a unifying role, selling skills and services not preserved anywhere else. These "Seniles" see their Esperancian benefactors as a threat to their social position even when the latter offer to save the environment. How relevant now.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And what Old Nick did was first to understand what made the t'Kelans tick, and then to figure out a solution where all factions on t'Kela would benefit now, not in some abstract, remote future.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, most human beings don't consider the long term either.
There are always exceptions -- Elon Musk has been planning the colonization of Mars for over 20 years now, for example.
But it's not the way to bet.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, long term planning is not something most humans have shown themselves capable of doing.
Yes, Elon Musk was/is an exception to that general rule. I think it's safe to say he focused on getting humongously rich in his earlier years so he would have the means needed to work on what he really wants: getting off this rock in a decisively practical way!
I hope so much Musk soon sends his colonizing expedition to Mars!
Ad astra! Sean
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