The Winged Cross

Nicholas van Rijn's modest penthouse on the roof of the Winged Cross in Chicago Integrate on the Earth of the Solar Commonwealth has the distinction of appearing in Volumes I, II and III of The Technic Civilization Saga. These are the volumes that deal with the Polesotechnic League:

I, The Van Rijn Method, named for the most powerful independent merchant in the League;

II, David Falkayn: Star Trader, named for van Rijn's protege whose achievements arguably surpass van Rijn's;

III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, whose title indicates the passing of both Commonwealth and League.

In "Esau," (Vol I) Emil Dalmady visits van Rijn on the Winged Cross.

In "The Master Key," (Vol II) an unnamed first person narrator, the narrator's friend, the friend's son and the son's ensign visit van Rijn.

In Mirkheim, (Vol III) David and Coya Falkayn visit van Rijn while, unfortunately, the social system that they value and in which they have prospered is fraying at the edges and rotting in the middle...which, for narrative purposes, it has to do if it is to exist in the same timeline as the later Terran Empire which emerges from the Troubles in Volume III and survives well into Volume VII.

And all of this reminds readers that we live in a historical period with a before and an after.