van Rijn initiates his first trade pioneer crew led by Falkayn;
that crew saves Merseia from the supernova, Valenderay;
the Shenna are revealed as an external threat to the Polesotechnic League;
some League merchants become piratical and worse;
the League cartelizes and Falkayn clashes with van Rijn.
Thus, five of the seven instalments in Volume II present events that build up to the major events in Volume III which are:
civil war in the League;
Falkayn's colonization of Avalon;
the Troubles;
the early Terran Empire;
war between Empire and Avalon.
I think the origin story of the Terran Empire is unrealistic -- empires don't start that way. They build up from small beginnings to power. Then they crumble or are consolidated -- Alexander's crumbled under regional Macedonian warlords, Rome's consolidated under Octavian/Augustus. But it was a near-run thing -- there were movements towards partition and Octavian was both able and long-lived, which was crucial.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteStirling's comments above makes sense. Which makes me think Anderson setting one or two stories during the Time of Troubles giving us some hints of how the Terran Empire could arise would have been helpful. And telling us more about the Troubles would help fill in one of the gaps in the Technic series.
Mr. Stirling: Love your new book THE LORDS OF CREATION, and trying not to read it too fast!
Ad astra! Sean
That said, I still think a man as strong willed and forceful as Manuel Argos would be plausible as a Founder of Empire.
Argos seeing "what needs to be done" and learning from history makes sense.
ReplyDelete