Tolkien's Middle Earth History is of Elves, Dwarves and Men. Poul Anderson's Technic History is of Terrans, Ythrians and Merseians. Terrans recover from the Chaos and move out into space, making first contact with, among others, Ythrians and Merseians. Terrans build their Empire, Ythrians build their Domain and Merseians build their Roidhunate, although human beings and Ythrians live together on Avalon in the Domain while human beings and Merseians live together on Dennitza in the Empire. All three realms interpenetrate with, but do not much interact with, the Dispersal of Ymir. When we are informed that
Qanryf Bryyadan Arrowswift, Vach Hallen, likes cold air from the spaceship ventilator because his home is on the arctic shore of the Wilwidh Ocean, we get a concrete sense that this future history is indeed Merseian, not just human.
Human Avalonians are Ythrianized, many joining choths. The Empire falls but meanwhile the Roidhunate has been demoralized. Human beings later build other civilizations but we do not know what becomes of the other species. We would like to know more but we have learned a lot.
Tomorrow, we, editorially speaking, are scheduled to visit Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Ymirite hydrogen breathers residing on high gravity planets are simply too different from oxygen breathing races for the latter to have much reason or occasion for any kind of interaction.
Ad astra! Sean
I wonder if some useful things would be so much easier to make under high pressure reducing conditions, and others much easier to make in the low pressure conditions of a terrestrial planet, or the vacuum of space, that trade would be worthwhile.
Kaor, Jim!
That might be possible but I have my doubts such a trade would be of more than marginal value.
Ad astra! Sea
Though a certain Meresian secret agent managed to read Ymritie minds and blackmail them... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha, I remember that! And how it gave Flandry the creeps, thinking of how weird it would be for an oxygen breathing sophont to read a Ymirite's mind!
Ad astra! Sean
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