Beginnings

Nothing we haven't said before but - The Technic Civilization, Volume I:

makes early references to the Jerusalem Catholic Church and to the planets Hermes, Woden, Cynthia and Aeneas;

introduces Ythrians, the planet Avalon, the Polesotechnic League, Adzel, Nicholas van Rijn, David Falkayn and the planet Ivanhoe;

then establishes van Rijn as a continuing character.

Volume II:

begins with another van Rijn story;

then shows van Rijn founding his first trade pioneer crew comprising the Hermetian David Falkayn, the Wodenite Adzel and the Cynthian Chee Lan with their first mission on the planet Ikrananka;

shows the crew saving the planet Merseia from supernova radiation and what van Rijn does meanwhile back on Earth;

shows van Rijn and the crew counteracting an external threat to the Polesotechnic League;

then addresses problems internal to the League, paving the way for the beginning of the end of the League at the beginning of Volume III.

The most substantial section of the Technic History, I suggest.