Tachwyr reflects that human beings might regain their:
"...universe-spanning ambitions..." (p. 268)
"Or a different but allied species might, the Cynthians, or the Scothani for example." (ibid.)
The Scothani, yes. They have already tried to build an interstellar empire although, on that first attempt, they were easily sabotaged by one Terran, Flandry. But the Cynthians! They were introduced as a species only so that Chee Lan could serve as a comical intelligent squirrel in van Rijn's first trade pioneer crew, a counterpoint to Adzel's serene massiveness. Cynthians as interstellar imperialists would strain willing suspension of disbelief beyond its breaking point. But Tachwyr does not know that.
The Cynthian village, Lulach, with its houses under or even in trees, reads like the setting for a completely different kind of narrative. But then we must expect that different kinds of beings and settings would coexist in an interstellar civilization, like the horned, sword-wielding, humanoid Scothani as against the human colonists of Nyanza in two early Flandry stories.
2 comments:
Chee Lan is scrappy and aggressive at times -- and your physical form is irrelevant with tech at that level.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! You don't need to be particularly big to be warlike and ambitious.
Ad astra! Sean
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