Admiral Olaf Magnusson:
was born on Kraken whose spacefolk trade as far as Betelgeuse or Merseia;
enlisted young in the Marines;
at Syrax, took command of a crippled ship;
was sent to the Foundry, the Navy officer school in Sector Aldeberan, which is where he was during the civil war;
helped to suppress two later rebellions and to negotiate with the Merseians (we read elsewhere that he speaks three Merseian languages, including Eriau, fluently);
married a Nyanzan heiress.
Regular readers of Poul Anderson's Technic History recognize multiple background details:
Kraken
Betelgeuse
Merseia
Syrax
Sector Aldeberan
the civil war
(Eriau)
Nyanza
- but not the Foundry which is introduced here.
Each instalment of a future history series builds on the foundation provided by earlier instalments and adds more - but we know that by now.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
For an Empire as vast as the Terran domain one or two military academies on old Earth simply could not fill the need for educated officers for the Navy/Marines. Hence the need for regional academies like the Foundry.
There were other schools, like the Diplomatic and Intelligence academies. We even see mention of Flandry, in later years, teaching courses at the latter. It would have been fascinating if we had seen Flandry teaching a class!
Ad astra! Sean
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