Sunday, 26 July 2026

Wodenite Biology

There are theroids on both Dennitza and Ishtar.

Wodenites are neither theroids nor herpetoids but are endothermic, two-sexed and viviparous and breed only in season, making celibacy easier for them than for human beings.

This information is imparted when Diana Crowfeather meets Francis Xavier Axor whose first two names, taken at baptism, reveal him to be a Christian.

Unfortunately, although three cover illustrations for Poul Anderson's The Game Of Empire show the land Starkadian, Targovi, none display the large, quadrupedal, dinosaurian Axor. However, another Wodenite, Adzel, is to be seen on a cover of Satan's World.

All the details in Anderson's Technic History hang together.

2 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

Yeah, Poul was remarkably consistent. That ain't easy!

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!

Both: Anderson made surprisingly few slipups in his Technic stories, which is amazing considering how many of these stories there were, written over 34 years. He made some however, one of which I discussed in my "Unexpected Contradiction" article.

Paul: None of the covers I've seen for THE GAME OF EMPIRE really satisfies me--and the one chosen here is truly ghastly. The least irritating cover I've seen being for the Baen paperback edition of 1985.

Ad astra! Sean