I can't help referring back to the opening volumes of The Technic Civilization Saga without again appreciating the slow steady build-up of Poul Anderson's Technic History. The first six instalments introduce:
the Jerusalem Catholic Church
Ythrians
the Ythrian New Faith
Nicholas van Rijn
Adzel
David Falkayn
In the seventh, Falkayn works for van Rijn's company but has not yet met him. Only in the thirteenth instalment does van Rijn found his first trade pioneer crew consisting of Falkayn, Adzel and Chee Lan and only in the sixteenth, Satan's World, do van Rijn and the "trader team" share the spotlight. And, by that time, the crisis of the Polesotechnic League approaches.
-copied from Catching Up With References.
First, let us note that Adzel is a Wodenite. Then we add:
the trader team will save Merseia from the effects of supernova radiation;
Falkayn will lead the joint human-Ythrian colonization of Avalon;
Philippe Rochefort, an officer in the Terran Imperial attack on Avalon and a Jerusalem Catholic, will have an affair with a direct descendant of Falkayn;
later, Dominic Flandry will defend the Terran Empire against Merseians, an Ythrian will spy for Ythri and Terra against Merseia and Flandry's daughter, Diana Crowfeather, will work as a tour guide for a Wodenite Jerusalem Catholic priest.
But that still leaves out a lot of details.
Addendum, 16 July 2026: References to Merseia have been inserted in response to combox discussion.
18 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I also thought of "Day of Burning," where the trader team went to Merseia--and all its consequences.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes, that connects the trader team with Merseians and thus indirectly with Flandry.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I've also speculated that some of the Merseians who settled on Dennitza descended from Star Believers or from those vachs/nations defeated in the power struggles over who would unify Merseia. The Demonists we also see mention of in "Day of Burning" could have shape the ideology of racial supremacism dominating the Roidhunate emerging from these struggles.
Ad astra! Sean
It's better to be a nonhuman in the Terran Empire than a non-Merseian in the Merseian Empire.
NB: that rebounds to the Terran Empire's benefit -- it gains more from their talents.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely, what you said about non-humans in the Terran Empire. Which is exactly what Manuel Argos desired in "Collar of Iron."
The far more generous and openhanded distribution of Terran citizenship to non-human compared to what was seen in the Roidhunate reminded me of this bit from Chapter XIII of A CIRCUS OF HELLS, Flandry reflecting (in italics): "You gatortails get a lot of dynamism out of taking for granted you're the natural future lords of the galaxy," ..."but your attitude has its disadvantages. Not that you deliberately antagonize any other races, provided they give you no trouble. But you don't use their talents as fully as you might. Ydwyr seems to understand this. He mentioned that I could be valuable as a non-Merseian--which suggests he'd like to have team members from among the Roidhunate's client species--but I imagine had woes enough pushing his project through a reluctant government, without bucking attitudes so ingrained that the typical Merseian isn't even conscious of them."
Yes, the Terran Empire made far greater use of the abilities of its non-human subjects than Merseia did of its client races.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: I think Poul took that from the Roman Empire. Rome was always very generous with its citizenship, compared to other ancient city-states, which were very reluctant to extend it.
In fact, even freed Roman slaves got second-class citizenship (a few restrictions on holding office) and their children were full citizens.
Note that Roman Emperors were all over the map in where they came from.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Anderson's use of Terran citizenship was inspired by the Roman example, as this bit from "The Star Plunderer" shows (RISE OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE (Baen, June 2009, page 260): "We can't conquer anyone, even the Gorzuni, and keep them as inferiors and hope to have a stable empire. All races must be equal." He rubbed his strong square chin. "I think I'll borrow a leaf from the old Romans. All worthy individuals, of any race, can become terrestrial citizens. It'll be a stabilizing factor."
I think some freedmen in the Roman Empire got around even those mild restrictions by rising high in the civil service, to posts which were as de facto powerful as those formal offices they could not hold.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Yup. That was especially true in the early Empire, when the 'government' was an extension of Augustus' household. Freedmen and slaves administered noble households, and did things (like business) Senators were forbidden to do.
Note that forbidding Senators to engage in trade and business just meant they did it through 'cut-outs' and did it with noticeable ruthlessness.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
What you said about those freedmen made sense of what I read about the freedmen of Augustus and Tiberius.
Silly rule, forbidding Senators to engage in trade/business. Better to let them do it openly and legally.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, it made a sort of sense as originally conceived -- Senators were supposed to live from the income of their estates and devote their time to governance. But trade got much more important as Rome grew from a city-state into an. empire...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Kinda what used to be the case with the UK's House of Lords. Formerly Peers received no salaries but lived off the income from their estates. That, as well as holding seats by hereditary right was supposed to insulate the Lords from popular pressures and passions.
And like Roman Senators the Lords also came to take a deep interest in trade and business.
Ad astra! Sean
There was a little sneering at the 'provincial accents' of people like Hadrian, but it wasn't politically important.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Roman Hispania was so thoroughly Romanized it might as well have been in Italy.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, the southern and eastern portions of it were.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I sit corrected.
Ad astra! Sean
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