Friday, 23 January 2026

Wyrfields Choth

While rereading relevant passages in "Lodestar," we missed one detail about a choth. It is possible to trace every stage in the authorship and publication of each of the texts that Hloch included in his Earth Book. In the case of "Lodestar":

van Rijn and Falkayn had transferred data units from the Solar System, where the Troubles were brewing, to the care of the Grand Ducal House and the Falkayns on Hermes;

post-League, the lack of a decipherment program meant that these units remained unread and almost forgotten;

Hloch's mother, Rennhi, compiler of The Sky Of Stormgate, obtained permission to transfer the molecular patterns to Avalon;

her code-breaking effort was supported by the Avalonian armed forces because war between Domain and Empire had become imminent;

the records included the log and other data from the Ythrian ship that had carried van Rijn and Coya Conyon to Mirkheim;

these documents illuminate some references in surviving letters from Coya to Falkayn;

since the documents also identify both the ship and its captain, Rennhi becomes able to approach his choth on Ythri;

Stirrok, Wyvan of Wryfields Choth, locates Hirharouk's journal which the latter's descendants allow to be read;

Hloch and Arinnian write "Lodestar."

Thus:

an unusually long process links van Rijn's discovery of Mirkheim to the publication of the Earth Book;

the process involves a named choth on the home planet, Ythri, although, as in the other short stories, we are nevertheless told nothing about the nature of choths.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

But Old Nick is the single most interesting character to be seen in "Lodestar."

Ad astra! Sean