Heroes

"...stone figures, representing heroes of an Empire dead so long its very existence was legend, stared down at them."
-Jerry Pournelle, King David's Spaceship (London, 1984), p. 198.

The Old Empire ended three hundred and sixteen years previously, long enough ago to generate some legends. We know from a list given in the following volume that those "heroes" are a mixed bunch:

Caesar
Ivan the Terrible (the first Tsar)
Napoleon
Churchill
Stalin
Washington
Jefferson
Trotsky

Even the fact that the First Empire was preceded by a CoDominium of the United States and the Soviet Union does not account for the inclusion of both Stalin and Trotsky on the same list.

Poul Anderson's Terran Empire, basing itself primarily on the Roman Empire, does not require such ideological obfuscation of past history. Its heroes might be:

Aeneas
Romulus
Caesar
Augustus
Virgil
Argos   

Why Empires? II

I said here that "empires," by which I meant the interstellar empires of much sf, seemed implausible and unimaginative. Sean Brooks replied that empires have arisen frequently in the past so they might again in future and that they might be federations rather than monarchies.

It is the monarchical form with an Emperor that I consider least likely. If such a form were ever to be adopted, as by Poul Anderson's Manuel Argos or by Jerry Pournelle's Leonidas I, then it would not occur spontaneously but would have to be a conscious piece of social engineering. Someone would have to think, as Argos does, "This archaism suits current conditions and will work better than any alternative."

Larry Niven's Known Space future history avoids a human interstellar empire but presents a kzinti one. But military conquest makes sense for kzinti.

Three questions about any futuristic sf:

Is it enjoyable to read?
Is it a plausible future?
Does it combine the plausible with the fantastic?

With much of the sf discussed here, I think that the answers are yes, no and yes, respectively.

Why Empires?

Why are there so many interstellar "Empires" in American sf? Notable examples are the works of Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Frank Herbert, H Beam Piper and Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Although James Blish's Cities In Flight features an interstellar "Hruntan Empire," the main emphasis of this series is on trade by the flying cities.

Empires resonate with much past Terrestrial history. The word "empire" evokes a realm both vast and powerful - although also oppressive and militaristic. It seems both implausible and unimaginative as a future form of social organization.

Poul Anderson wrote well about interstellar empires, then moved on to other kinds of fictional futures. "The Star Plunderer" makes the founding of the Terran Empire by Manuel Argos seem plausible and the Dominic Flandry novels make interstellar Imperial administration seem credible.

Greg Bear wrote:

"...Rome has been much abused. Lay off Rome for a while. And give me no spaceships in feudal settings...unless, of course, you are Poul Anderson, but you are most likely not."
-Greg Bear, "Tomorrow Through The Past" IN SFWA Bulletin, Fall 1979, pp. 38-41 AT pp. 40-41.

I agree that Poul Anderson made even feudalism with spaceships work. I can accept Niven and Pournelle's Empire of Man as part of a literary tradition and as the setting for their First Contact novel but sf must move on, as Anderson did.

Five First Empires

(i) After the Fall of the Galactic Empire, the Second Foundationers plan to build a Second Empire in a mere thousand years. If they succeed, then the fallen Empire will be renamed the First.

(ii) Donvar Ayeghen, President of the Galactic Archeological Society, refers to excavations in the ruins of Sol City, Terra, and to Manuel Argos, the Founder of the First Empire.

(iii) Galactics who have come to evacuate Earth fly among the ruins of Sol City, capital of the legendary First Empire.

(iv) When Leonidas IV proclaims the Second Empire of Man in 2903, the Empire that had ended in 2640 becomes the First.

(v) The Terran Federation is succeeded by the First Galactic Empire.

(i) = Isaac Asimov's Foundation future history.
(ii) = Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.
(iii) = Anderson's Psychotechnic History.
(iv) = Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history.
(v) = H Beam Piper's Terrohuman Future History.

Meeting Places

John Rolfe and Manuel Argos (see here) would have much to discuss if they were able to meet between universes, for example in the Old Phoenix. In fact, we can all too readily envisage an endless series of Old Phoenix dialogues between characters from different works and worlds but such dialogues would have to say something worthwhile.

There are other possible meeting places. Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization mentions two hypothetical hereafters:

"[Emperor Hans] either appalled Manuel Argos or won a grudging approval, in whatever hypothetical hell or Valhalla the Founder dwelt."
-Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), p. 380.

Later, imagining a monologue delivered by Roan Tom's ghost, the omniscient narrator continues:

"...he pauses to stuff a pipe with Earthgrown tobacco, which is available in his particular Valhalla..."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), p. 458.

Tom's Valhalla becomes a fiction within a fiction: we are invited to imagine Tom drawling, explaining and smoking - but then the narrative flashes back to when he was alive. Tom belongs with the others. During the Long Night, he makes alliances that build a base for the Allied Planets and their civilizing missions.

So let's imagine, in the Inn or one of the Valhallas (Halls of the Valorous), SM Stirling's John Rolfe outnumbered by Anderson's Manuel I, Hans I, Flandry and Tom - but then joined by Eric von Shrakenberg, St Disraeli and Emperor John II. I expect that one of the Valiant Halls has a VIP lounge...

"Men Make Their Own History..."

"Men make their own history but not in circumstances of their own choosing."

Whereas SM Stirling's John Rolfe accidentally opened a Gate to an alternative Earth where he founded the Commonwealth of New Virginia, Poul Anderson's Manuel Argos led a slave revolt and founded the Terran Empire. The Empire is incomparably vaster than the Commonwealth. However, this is because Rolfe was a World War II veteran whereas Argos was born in a later age of faster than light interstellar travel: "...not in circumstances of their own choosing."

Further, we are shown several centuries of the Empire but only two generations of the Commonwealth. How vast might the latter later become? At the end of Conquistador, the Commonwealth begins to expand not out into space but sideways onto a third alternative Earth. Since at least one of Argos' predecessors has already traveled between universes, there is the possibility, however remote, of a meeting between Commonwealth and Empire, maybe in a second Anderson-themed anthology? But, meanwhile, we have many already written works to read or reread.

Apparently, hypothetical crossovers are a regular fannish debating topic:

Batman and Captain America fight - who wins?;
the Federation of Star Trek and the Empire of Star Wars meet - which wins?;
etc.

(I have the uneasy feeling that this post has descended from the sublime to the center of a black hole.)

The Roman Tradition

The Aeneid, with which I currently struggle, is the epic of the Roman myth. As such, it explains the wars between Rome and Carthage as originating in the personal conflict between Aeneas and Dido. (Not trade rivalry but mythical founders explain everything.)

Thus, the Aeneid is variously relevant to Poul Anderson's works:

the originals of Odin and Thor escaped from Roman slavery;

the Time Patrol ensured Roman victory against Carthage, kept Germania in the Empire despite the pagan prophetess preaching the destruction of Rome and prevented a post-Roman-British-European world civilization;

the last King of Ys was a Roman centurion;

Manuel Argos based his Terran Empire on the Roman Empire.

Thus, Anderson's antecedents are considerably older than Wells, Stapledon or Heinlein.

Have I said that I detect parallels between Classical and Biblical traditions?

Homer and the poets, like Moses and the prophets, were regarded as divinely inspired authorities on theology and morality;

Greek "philo-sophia" is love of wisdom and the Hebrew Writings include Wisdom literature;

Virgil's poetry of the Augustan Age is like a pagan New Testament;

the Fourth Gospel identifies Jesus with the Word that was in the Beginning, an idea adapted from Greek philosophy, while Virgil's Aeneid has Caesar's soul in Hades waiting to be born long before the founding of Rome;

the promise to Abraham and the promise of everlasting Roman greatness are fulfilled in a single church - if you see it that way, of course! (And Anderson appropriately speculates on the future of that church.)

The First Three Emperors

Manuel Argos was forty when he founded the Solar/Terran Empire. However, he says that these are:

"'...the days of gerontology and hundred-year active lifespans.'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 357.

So will Manuel reign for six decades? He intends to "'...choose good breeding stock...'" (ibid.) and to train his sons hard so that his empire will last for centuries. A character in the next story obligingly summarizes subsequent history. Two hundred years later, Manuel's grandson, Manuel II, reigns. Thus, we do not know the name of the Founder's immediate heir. We do learn that the adjective derived from the name Argos is "Argolid" and this latter term will still be used in Flandry's time.

An empire was necessary because the alternative was savages with spaceships. Manuel I defeated the barbarians who had invaded the Solar System, then conquered and civilized them. He had to subjugate closer stars in order to secure his lines of communication although this led to fighting elsewhere. Planets conquered for their wealth would in any case have been incorporated through economic necessity. Manuel II has nearly attained an empire large enough for economic self-sufficiency and defense but not too large for control. In the inner Empire, security and central power have eliminated many social evils. Ansa, an underpopulated agricultural planet still exposed to barbarian raids, is forcibly annexed because the Empire needs to protect its Sagittarian flank. However, Ansa, although initially unwilling, is now safe and part of a great socio-economic system so the Ansan resentment of Solar imperialism is not expected to last.

This exposition makes the space opera setting of an interstellar empire sound almost believable.

Dynastic Loyalty And Legitimacy?

If the current Terran Emperor is as capable as the Founder (is believed to have been), then all well and good. If not, then it is the responsibility of others to cope as well as possible.

Any given planetary government may be anything but imperialistic. However, every such government can pay a modest tribute for Imperial protection on an interstellar scale.

I like to think that the Founder, Manuel Argos, would:

distribute in a popular edition Virgil's Aeneid translated into Anglic;
encourage scholars to study both contemporary physics and the Classics;
display before his palaces statues of Aeneas, Romulus, Julius, Augustus and himself.

Imperial power is based on universally applicable technology whereas Imperial values are derived from Terrestrial history. Manuel I's Jerusalem Catholic subjects might also revere Constantine who Chritianized the Roman Empire while his Buddhist subjects might instead revere the Indian Emperor Asoka who waged a war but then, after witnessing the mass deaths caused by the war, converted to Buddhism and became a philanthropical ruler. Confucians, if they still exist, might prefer the Chinese mythical Yellow Emperor, credited with originating civilized arts. (These are all Terrestrial Emperors.)

Some scholars might aspire towards a synthesis of human and other value systems. However, even some monotheisms, human, Ythrian and Merseian, are irreconcilably antithetical.

The Terran Emperors

My American correspondent, Sean M Brooks, highlights Anderson's Terran Emperors as potentially an interesting field of Andersonian criticism, one problem being how little we know of them.

We know that Manuel Argos founded the Empire.
There was a Manuel the Great, almost certainly Manuel Argos.
There was a Manuel II who might have been the Manuel the Wise mentioned by Aycharaych.
There were two Emperors named Pedro, a Pedro II being mentioned in The Game of Empire.
There was one Emperor named Olaf.
There were three Emperors named Josip.
There was an Isamu the Great, possibly an early Wang Dynasty Emperor.
Georgios Manuel Krishna Murasaki, the fourth Wang Emperor, was succeeded by his son, Josip III.
Josip was briefly succeeded by his unnamed Wang Dynasty heir.
Josip's heir was supplanted by Hans Molitor who was succeeded by Dietrich, then Gerhart.
Gerhart's heir is Crown Prince Karl.
The Empire had existed for perhaps four and a half centuries by Gerhart's reign.

There may be more information than this but not a lot. I have been shown that it is possible to extract a few details about Josip from the texts. (See here.) Data about Emperors are something I will look out for when re-reading the series.

(Thanks to Sean for revising my summary of Emperors into a more coherent chronological sequence.)

The History of Ythrians

In relation to the History of Technic Civilization, there are seven distinct stages:

humans discover the planet Ythri;
Ythrians adopt Terran technology;
Ythrians and humans jointly explore the planet later called Avalon;
both species colonize Avalonian islands;
both species colonize the main Avalonian continent;
both species resist the Terran Empire to keep Avalon in the Domain of Ythri;
an Avalonian Ythrian spies for both Domain and Empire.

Having been told this much, we want to know more. This Ythrian narrative, enough to comprise a short future history, instead crosses over with the narratives of van Rijn, Falkayn and Flandry:

van Rijn travels in an Ythrian ship;
the colonization brings together earlier stories of interstellar exploration with the story of Falkayn's response to the decline of the Polesotechnic League;
the story of resistance to Imperial annexation brings together the narrative of the early Empire with the earlier stories of the colonization;
the Avalonian spy features in a sequel to a Flandry novel.

Thus, four series form one series which is more than the sum of its parts. Apart from Ythrians, van Rijn, Falkayn and Flandry, another significant name is Argos:

Manuel Argos founds the Terran Empire;
the Empire expands;
it fails to annex Avalon;
Flandry defends it;
it eventually falls -

- and the name associated with the post-Imperial Long Night is Roan Tom. Unlike the others mentioned here, Manuel and Tom are not series characters but could have been as could Daven Laure of the post-Long Night Commonalty period. There is no direct link between, e.g., first contact with Ythri and Daven's contact with the descendants of rebels expelled by Flandry. Nevertheless, these stories are earlier and later episodes of a longer narrative. In fact, they were respectively the earliest and latest episodes until Anderson wrote an even earlier story set during the exploration of the Solar System.

Anderson wrote his series from 1951 to 1985. I am writing this in 2012. Is it still possible to imagine that Technic Civilization lies in our future so that Ythri exists now and will be visited by a ship of the Grand Survey in 2150? Not really. If the events of the Technic History were due to occur on schedule, then they would not have been preceded by accounts of these same events presented as fiction in the twentieth century! Secondly, the future has never turned out in detail to be like what anyone had imagined, although Wells did a good job of predicting World Wars waged with aircraft. Thirdly, Anderson's faster-than-light, interstellar, multi-species trade and imperialism are particularly implausible. The series is an elaborate fiction fantastically reflecting past history partly by imaginatively projecting it onto a vaster spatiotemporal scale while however also incorporating serious scientific speculation about extra-solar planetary environments:

there might be planets like the industrially valuable Satan and Mirkheim even if no interstellar civilization ever exploits them;
there might be planets like Ythri and Avalon even if not inhabited or colonized by intelligent ornithoids.

To return to appreciating the series as fiction, the founding of the Avalonian colony by Falkayn was occasioned by the decline of the Polesotechnic League and the founding of the Terran Empire by Manuel I was occasioned by the collapse of the League's political counterpart, the Solar Commonwealth. Then, colony and Empire fought. Thus again, Anderson wrote not a single one-dimensional narrative but several skillfully interwoven series.