"This galaxy alone is too big for any power to control." (p. 97)
Then why do some sf villains want to conquer it? And, specifically, why, in a later future history series, do Poul Anderson's Merseians want to conquer it? Anderson can answer that. His Merseians started out as standard pulp space opera villains with green skins out to conquer the galaxy but it emerges that their aim is a network of autonomous realms, not a single galactic government. What matters to them is the race, not any particular regime. And, by "them," we mean the dominant culture on Merseia during a particular historical period, not the species as a whole. On the human colony planet, Dennitza, the minority of beings of Merseian descent are loyal to the Terran Emperor, not to the Merseian Roidhun. The Technic History mirrors real history in complexity.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Because conquest IWHBD, or at least what some of us humans want to do. And in the case of the Technic series IWMD ("It's What Merseians Do"), or at least some of them. Yes, Anderson gradually added depths, nuances, and complexities to his Merseians, making them more convincing.
I've long suspected some of the Merseians who settled on Dennitza were among the losers in the struggles over who would unify Merseia. Defeated vachs and Star Believers who disagreed with what became the dominant culture/ideology pf the Roidhunate.
Ad astra! Sean
And we don't know how large states can become. We haven't had a universal state on Earth yet -- though that's the goal of my time-travellers in TO TURN THE TIDE.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely! It's my belief somebody is going to conquer Earth someday. The most benign possibilities, using analogies from Anderson's works, would be a Western oriented alliance of nations setting up a Solar Commonwealth. Or, from Anderson/Dickson's Hoka stories, a British Commonwealth enormously strengthened by the accession of the US, unifying Earth into the United Commonwealths.
I absolutely do not want Maoist China or a jihadist Muslim caliphate conquering the world! David Wingrove's CHUN KUO series starts with Maoist China unifying Earth, and not hesitating to be utterly brutal doing that.
Ad astra! Sean
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