Mixed Ecologies

"Woodlots were the deep green of Terran oak and the orange-green of Kzin, tall frondlike growths in Wunderland's reddish ocher."
-Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling, "The Hall of the Mountain King" IN Larry Niven, Ed., Man-Kzin Wars V (New York, 1992), pp. 5-202 AT p. 38.

Human colonists and kzinti conquerors have imported trees to the Alpha Centaurian planet of Wunderland. Thus, the vegetation is green, orange and red.

For similar scenes on the human-Ythrian colony planet of Avalon, see here, then follow the link to a post on the human colony planet of Aeneas. On Nike (see also here), there is blue-tinted pale green native vegetation but:

"Otherwise, the country had been taken over by the more efficient, highly developed species that man commonly brought with him."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 484.

These are:

oak;
birch;
primrose;
grass overwhelming pseudo-moss that thrives only in shade.

On Lokon:

"Clover was another of those life forms that man had brought with him from Old Earth, to more planets than anyone now remembered..." (Flandry's Legacy, pp. 665-666)

However, either the life forms adapt to alien environments or genetic drift changes them at random. Thus, they are often unrecognizable, as humanity must eventually become. We think of man the conqueror but it seems that we should add oak, grass, clover etc to the list.

Echoes

When, in Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's "The Asteroid Queen," a kzinti Conservor of the Ancestral Past recites the Law, the astute reader might hear echoes of:

Merseian religion -

"As the God is Sire to the Patriarch..."
-Larry Niven, Ed., Man-Kzin Wars III (New York, 1990), p. 57.

Merseian social organization -

"...the officer is the hand of the Sire." (ibid.)

and Ythrian religion -

"...the Patriarch bares stomach to the fangs of the God..." (ibid.)

Also, a reference to "'...feral humans in the mountains...'" (p. 58) might remind us that the Draka describe free human beings as feral serfs.

My point of course is not that one work merely imitates the others but that all of these works are worthy of our attention. Kzinti are not just Merseians with feline features instead of green skins. Ythrian psychology and social organization reflect alien biology and physiology. And the Draka are what human beings might become! Read them all. 

Parallel Histories

Future histories were not written to be read in parallel but can be. Larry Niven's kzinti are, under different aspects, comparable to:

Wells' Martians;

Anderson's Merseians, Ythrians and Imperial Terrans;

Stirling's Draka.

Slavery in different forms is common to these six cultures. Kzinti and Ythrians are intelligent carnivorous hunters, motivated by blood odors in their warships. Kzinti enslave human beings and eat some whereas the Martians would have enslaved human beings and drained the blood from some. Kzinti and Draka plan to spend generations taming enslaved populations. Merseians and kzinti are aggressive interstellar imperialists.

We can imagine a narrative in which these timelines are discussed in the Old Phoenix and another in which characters in a quantum ship jump between timelines trying to influence the outcomes of space battles described in the various future histories.

Aliens And Others

Poul Anderson presents plausible extraterrestrials. His Merseians and Ythrians are different from humanity and from each other. In particular, the Yhtrians' biology, as intelligent winged carnivores, determines their psychology, their social structures and even their theology.

SM Stirling presents a plausible alternative human culture. A Draka newspaper quotes a Security Strategos as saying that his skilled staff will keep captured Resistance fighters alive and screaming for weeks and the newspaper commentator wishes him well. One Resistance fighter warns the OSS agent not to regard Draka outrages as monstrous or inhuman. To think like that is to confirm the Drakas' own self-image as demons or gods. They are human beings.

While reading the Draka Saga, we can compare Communists, Nazis and Draka: three contending groups with different histories and destinies. The Draka, having separated their feelings for their families from their feelings for other human beings, must be about as bad as humanity can get.

Today

Today, visiting Muncaster Castle and the coastal town of Whitehaven, both in Cumbria, we were away from home for nearly twelve hours. Hence, no posts until now. At Muncaster, the display of birds of prey reminded me of Poul Anderson's Ythrians, especially when two vultures (one called "Moriarty") and three kites swooped low over the audience to musical accompaniment and a vulture landed among us. Afterwards, I mentally catalogued Anderson's Technic History, and the Ythrian History within it, yet again.

Since, to Poul Anderson fans, past history is as important as future history, I should mention that:

Muncaster Castle, built on a Roman site, has been owned by the Pennington family since 1208 and was the home of the original "Tom Fool;"

Whitehaven, my father's birthplace and childhood home, was attacked by John Paul Jones during the American War of Independence.

We live and breathe history.

Quetzas And Ythrians

SM Stirling, The Sky People (New York, 2007).

A pterodactyl with an eighty foot wingspan would not be able to fly on Earth but is able to fly on (this alternative version of) Venus because:

gravity is less;
air is thicker;
there is more oxygen.

At this point, sf readers remember:

many other fictional encounters with dinosaurs (see here);
Poul Anderson's question to John W Campbell - what comes next after fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals?

Campbell suggested an animal that can energize its body by pumping atmospheric oxygen directly into its bloodstream. Anderson utilized this suggestion to imagine Ythrians, able both to fly under terrestroid conditions and to carry a body and brain heavy enough for intelligence.

Reading about Stirling's Quetzas and remembering Anderson's Ythrians, we next ask: do the conditions on Stirling's Venus allow for intelligent fliers?

Literate Cultures

Intelligent beings might build and live in a literate and technological society that is not urban, therefore not describable as a civilization. Poul Anderson maybe presents more examples of this than we might realize:

In the Technic History
Ythrians;
Freeholders;
nomadic Altaians.

In the "Star Time" Diptych
Staurni;
Ishtarians.

(Another list that grew in the writing.)

Ishtarians are not only townless but even stateless. Rarely violent, they recognize just one criminal act: "...failure to obey the judgment of the jury that tried a lawsuit." (Fire Time, p. 107) Public services provided by the "legions" include arbitrating disputes, maintaining records and lighthouses, policing (slight) and a fire service (rarely needed since most buildings are stone or adobe). Sehala is not a capital city but a convenient rendezvous point because it is a prosperous area where certain activities are concentrated. Buildings are spread about with no streets between them. The Ishtarian physiology has little need of sanitation but anyone who runs an establishment disposes of whatever wastes there are as necessary because otherwise his neighbors would sue him.

An Ythrian On The Wing

"The Ythrian passed overhead in splendor."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 309.

"He went high above them, hovering, soaring, wheeling in splendor..."
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 139.

Poul Anderson has earned the right to write thus about Ythrians in flight. If we have read his History of Technic Civilization in chronological order of fictitious events, then we have learned what it means to see a flying Ythrian. The flapping wings pump oxygen directly into the blood, supercharging the metabolism, generating the energy necessary to lift an intelligent being's heavy body against gravity. Ythrians are and feel more alive while they fly and express this feeling in how they fly.

"He rode the wind like its conqueror." (Rise.... ibid.)

After first contact on Ythri, a human being watching the farewell dance:

"...cried through tears, 'To fly like that! To fly like that!'"
-Poul Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (New York, 2009), p. 102.

First Island

I have mentioned before - and was surprised when I realized it - that, of Poul Anderson's seven works featuring Ythrians, one was published in 1972, six in 1973. Thus, although these works are set in:

2150
the 24th century
2446
the 26th century (two)
the 29th century
3028 -

(according to Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization), it must have been easy for the author to ensure that the seven cohered future historically. In the 26th century, Nathaniel Falkayn tells his Ythrian friends:

"'I've been sailing myself, around First Island...'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 302.

We know that human beings and Ythrians have colonized different islands in the Hesperian Sea on the planet Avalon but why is one island called the First? In the 29th century, Liaw of The Tarns:

"...and his colleagues stood on the olden site, First Island in the Hesperian Sea. At their backs rose the house of David Falkayn..." (p. 561) -

- Nat's grandfather and the Founder of the Avalonian colony. I have mentioned before that we never see the Falkayns living in that house. Nevertheless, we do find this single reference to First Island back in the early days of the colonization.

We also notice other details. The bird-like Ythrians are said to perch; one even bounces "...from his perch..." (p. 455). The boat used by Nat's friends has "...a perch-bar." (p. 303) Thus, human beings sit on chairs, Merseians squat on their tails and Yhtrians perch on perch-bars. In the boat, Nat must hunker in the bottom because there are no thwarts.

He notices that the boat has neither keel nor centerboard but his friends show him that they have other devices for interacting with the wind and moving across the water. Three centuries later, Tabitha Falkayn, a thoroughly Ythrianized young woman, demonstrates this same Ythrian boat design to a Terran guest.

Settling Avalon

When human beings and Ythrians have colonized the Hesperian Islands on Avalon, "...the chief abode of the allied folk..." (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 296) is called Trauvay or Wingland. (The former is also the name of the High Wyvan of Ythri centuries later at the time of the Terran War.)

Trauvay/Wingland is the site of the headquarters of a research and development team for the joint colonization of the northern continent, Corona. Nicholas Falkayn, son of the Founder, attends as an engineer, accompanied by his family because the team will meet for many Morganan months. Thus, his son, Nat Falkayn (seventeen Avalonian years old, twelve Terran) meets many young Ythrians and the scene is set for a short story originally published in Boy's Life - an excellent addition to Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.

Flying Men

Poul Anderson presents two intelligent flying species, Diomedeans and Ythrians. Readers of Anderson might discern interesting parallels with Olaf Stapledon's small, bat-like Seventh Men. Earlier, I compared Stapledon's Great Brains with Anderson's Artificial Intelligences: two cases of enhanced but abstracted intellect. Ythrians and Seventh Men are two cases of experience enriched by the power and physiology of flight.

With Earth about to be rendered uninhabitable by a falling Moon, the Fifth Men partly terraform Venus, incidentally exterminating Venerians, and partly adapt humanity to the new planet. Since the Venerian land surface is a few islands in a planetary ocean, some human beings become aquatic whereas others become aerial.

The Sixth Men, not fliers but fascinated by flight and living on Venus, worship not a god-man but a god-bird that is conceived in various forms:

the divine sea-eagle, winged with power;
the giant swift, winged with mercy;
a disembodied air spirit;
a bird-god that became man to give men physical and spiritual flight.

The Seventh Men, an artificially produced species:

have feathers, a leathery membrane, hollow bones, internal surfaces functioning as supplementary lungs to maintain high oxidation, hearts that beat more powerfully in flight and a normally feverish state;
experience more vividly and live more richly when flying;
hunt birds and fish and browse an artificially produced food plant that drifts in the upper air;
perform elaborate air dances;
eventually opt to fly together and commit mass suicide when persecuted by their successors, the avian but flightless giant Eighth Men.

This summary suggests the extent to which Anderson is a successor of Stapledon.

Merchants, Ythrians And Crusaders

Continuing to proceed through Poul Anderson's Going For Infinity (New York, 2002), we find the Technic Civilization History again represented, this time by a van Rijn story followed by an Ythrian story. These are out of chronological order but that does not matter here. In his introduction to the Ythrian story, Anderson does at last mention the History. He also tells us more about the conversation with John Campbell that led to the Ythrians.

Anderson had asked what kind of animals might be post-mammalian as mammals are post-reptilian and reptiles are post-amphibian. Campbell immediately suggested an anatomy that he thought "...would confer unprecedented cursorial ability..." (p. 185): former gills pumping concentrated oxygen into the blood. Anderson saw instead that, if the oxygen were to be pumped by beating wings, then a body big enough for intelligence would be able to lift itself in flight on an Earth-like planet.

Thus, the psychology, sociology and theology of intelligent, winged carnivores sharing a colony planet with human beings, some of whom join them in flight with anti-gravity belts, became a fascinating and substantial addition to Technic Civilization. Contrary to Campbell's original idea, Ythrians are graceful in flight but awkward on land.

Next, Anderson informs us that The High Crusade is one of his most popular works, with many editions in several languages, considered for filming by George Pal and in fact filmed, although apparently botched, by a German studio. Anderson admirably summarizes the absurd plot in order to introduce the short sequel, "Quest," which here represents the novel as "Death and the Knight" represents the Time Patrol, "The Horn of Time the Hunter" represents the Kith, "The Master Key" represents van Rijn and "The Problem of Pain" represents the Ythrians.

I will now reread "Quest."

Yet More Details

Slowly rereading a Poul Anderson novel in order to blog about it is an excellent opportunity to appreciate Anderson's attention to detail even more closely than usual. For instance, in The Day Of Their Return, we read that, on the dry planet, Aeneas, the Hedin Freehold is able to engage not only in ranching but also in agriculture because:

the Wildfoss river flows close enough to maintain a water table with a few wells;

wind-driven moisture from the canals, marshes and salt lakes of the Antonine Seabed brings rain two or three times a year.

Whitewashed rammed earth buildings decorated with stone or glass mosaics comprise manse, cottages, barns and workshops around a paved courtyard. Windbreak trees are:

native delphi and rahab;
Terrestrial oak and acacia;
Llynathawrian rasmin;
Ythrian hammerbranch.

The casual reference to Ythri is evocative for regular Anderson readers.

All flowers have had to be imported because Aenean plants never evolved blossoms, their closest approach being a few bright leaves or stalks. When it comes to describing the life and activity of the steading, Anderson presents one of his description-lists, including kinds of people, animals, vehicles, sounds and smells. The animals include stathas. It is explained in a later passage that these green, six-legged, domesticated animals were imported to Aeneas - as, in the previous installment of the Technic Civilization History, to Freehold - from elsewhere just as horses were imported from Earth.

I must have read all of these details before because I have read through the entire novel at least twice but over a long period. Details about the Hedin Freehold were not remembered but are worth recovering.

Going Bird

Poul Anderson excels at descriptive passages both of natural scenery and of crowded, bustling civic and commercial centers. On p. 499 of Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011) is his description of "...Avalon's second city...Centauri...," which I quoted in a much earlier post. On the following page, he presents one of his "list" descriptions that I have commented on before. Eleven kinds of pedestrians, five kinds of human noise and five kinds of street smells are listed, giving an impression, I suggest, of a dynamic urban environment.

Christopher Holm, who has joined an Ythrian choth, "gone bird," as Arinninian, draws a different conclusion:

"'...I'm proud to belong to a choth and not proud that members of my race elect to live in a sty.'" (p. 501)

Ythrians mate only when in heat. Gestation has to be short because adult Ythrians fly. The young cling to either parent until their wings have developed. Adult sexes are equal or nearly so. Occasional females able to ovulate at will used to be killed and are now generally shunned. Chris is shocked to find his chothmate Eyath's betrothed Vodan with a permanently-in-heat female before he goes to war. He expects purity of his chothmates whereas Tabitha/Hrill comments:

"'...don't you suppose, if [Eyath] heard, she'd be glad he's gotten a bit of unimportant fun and forgetting?'" (p. 508)

"Birds," human choth members, tend to be promiscuous but not with each other. Chris has some problem but, three times when speaking to Tabitha, he does not finish his sentence:

"'You wouldn't -' he stammered. 'I mean, somebody like you?'" (p. 501)

And later:

"'We birds -' He couldn't finish..." (p. 509)

When she challenges his use of the word "we," he replies:

"'Why, we...our generation, at least -'" (p. 509)

- and again does not finish. Tabitha understands what is going on well enough to tell him that his "...case..." is neither as typical nor as serious as he thinks. (p. 510) But I am still having trouble with what his "case" is. She refuses his proposition, which he says was only intended to make a point, to show why he is upset about Vodan, but he has no difficulty in finding another sexual partner for what is left of the night.

Later: He expects the same "purity" of human chothmates that he finds among Ythrians and thus denies that the former are human?

Oherran?

Hloch explains the human concept of national government to fellow Ythrians thus:

"...as if a single group could permanently cry Oherran against the rest of society..." (Poul Anderson, The Van Rijn Method, New York, 2009, p. 104)

What is Oherran? When, two volumes of the Baen Books Technic Civilization Saga later, a minority of Avalonian choths opposes proposed defence measures and refuses to contribute, the Wyvan of the High Khruath threatens to call Oherran on them. They yield. (Rise Of The Terran Empire, New York, 2011, p. 494) The President of the Parliament of Man is shocked and also becomes conciliatory. He recognizes that this news is confidential because it would be a deathpride issue for the choths concerned and that to press the matter would risk civil war.

Oherran is a summons to everyone in the territory to attack the defiers of a Khruath decision. If this summons is rejected, then, since it is a deathpride matter, the Wyvans have no alternative to suicide.

"None who knew Liaw of the Tarns imagined he would untruthfully say that he had threatened to rip Avalon asunder." (ibid., p. 498)

Facts About Avalon II

(i) By "the Discovery," Ythrians mean First Contact with Terrans, not the discovery of Avalon.

(ii) To explain "nation" and "government," Hloch says:

"It is as if a single group could permanently cry Oherran against the entire rest of society..." (Poul Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate, New York, 1979, p. 24)

(iii) Most Avalonian human beings "...maintain a modified form of government...It is merely their way." (p. 24)

(iv) The Parliament of Man and the Great Khruath of the Ythrians divide the Coronan continent between the species.

(v) Neither the text of "The Problem of Pain" nor Hloch's introduction to this account of joint human-Ythrian exploration of Avalon confirms that this exploration occurred after the founding of the Polesotechnic League, as indicated in the Chronology of Technic Civilization.

(vi) Children of Emil Dalmady from Altai, hero of "Esau," moved to Avalon with Falkayn. His daughter Judith Dalmady/Lundgren wrote "Esau" for a magazine named after the Avalonian moon, Morgana.

(vii) She also wrote "The Season of Forgiveness" and "Wingless" for Morgana.

(viii) Paradox and Trillia, the planets in "A Little Knowledge," are close to Avalon. The xenologist, Fluoch of Mistwood Choth brought the story to Avalon and Arinnian of Stormgate/Christopher Holm, who has translated works from Planha into Anglic, translated this story into Planha for the Earth Book.

(ix) Before and in anticipation of the Troubles, van Rijn and Falkayn had transferred records from Earth to the care of the Hermetian Grand Ducal house. Later, Rennhi transferred the molecular patterns to Avalon and deciphered the code, thus enabling Hloch and Arinninan to write accounts of Falkan's activities on Merseia and Mirkheim.

(x) AA Craig, author of Tales Of The Great Frontier, visited Avalon during the Troubles, heard of an incident from the person who had experienced it and wrote a fictionalized account as "Rescue on Avalon."

Facts About Avalon Disclosed in The Earth Book Of Stormgate

(i) An Ythrian couple, Ferannian, an engineer, and Rennhi, a historian, "...held the country around Spearhead Lake." (Poul Anderson, The Earthbook Of Stormgate, New York, 1979, p. 1)

Despite participating in a technological society, the Ythrians are winged carnivores. Thus "...held the country..." means that they subsisted by flying, hunting and eating live prey.

(ii) They had regular contact with human beings because:

he worked in Centauri, Gray and other Avalonian towns;
travel routes crossed above Spearhead Lake;
there was a nearby copper mine;
they were "...guest-free..." (p. 1);
being near the large town of Gray, their choth, Stormgate, receives more human members than most. 

(iii) Rennhi wrote The Sky Book Of Stormgate about the ancestors on Ythri and the founders and descendants on Avalon and gathered material for the Earth Book, helped by her son, Hloch, but God stooped on her before she could write the second Book.

(iv) Hloch served in space during the Terran War and later visited Imperial planets in a merchant crew but then, tiring of the void, returned to the winds.

(v) Tariat, son of Lythran and Blawsa and Wyvan of Stormgate Choth, asked Hloch to complete the Earth Book, annals from the Discovery through the World-Taking but "...as told...by Terrans, who walk the earth." (p. 2)

(vi) Hloch begins to write on the peak of Mount Anrovil in the Weathermother...

The Fleet Of Stars III

In Poul Anderson's "Harvest Of Stars" Tetralogy, a community of human beings and intelligent seals populates Pacific islands and floating cities. This reminded me, a little, of human beings and alien Ythrians jointly colonizing a planet in Anderson's Technic History especially when one seal tells a human being of another culture, or "Dao," that what he will say "...may be no fair wind for you..." (The Fleet Of Stars, New York, 1997, p. 48). Winged Ythrians, of course, often refer to "winds" in more than a literal sense and, like the seals, they are intelligent but remain hunters.

The issue in the Tetralogy becomes which is better: conflict or contentment? That sounds like the issue in Brave New World except that, in that novel, every member of society is conditioned to welcome and enjoy his or her contented lack of freedom. (Also, I cannot help thinking that the World Controllers have to be intelligent and informed enough that one of them might be tempted to sabotage the system just to see what results?) Human beings in Anderson's Tetralogy are educated, although sometimes misinformed, but not conditioned. Their main problem, not always perceived as such, is lack of options.

Huxley suggested in his Introduction to later editions of Brave New World that a third option, cultivation of sanity, is feasible. I am always inclined to make a similar comment about any sharp dichotomy presented in a work of fiction.

Anderson's extra-solar colonists have got it right. They are fulfilled, not content. Their lives are determined by themselves, not by computers. Their conflict is with the inorganic universe, not with each other. Their technology serves their ends and does not deprive them of ends. In fact, the cybercosm should be able to realize that this fullest expression of organic life is to be acknowledged, not controlled.    

Ythri

A ship of the Grand Survey discovers the planet Ythri:

sun G9, half Solar luminosity;
Ythrian gravity 0.75 terrestrial;
thinner, drier but humanly breathable atmosphere;
red, moss-like ground cover;
two small moons;
modest oceans;
woods, lakes, plains, mountains;
winged carnivores lifting bodies heavy enough for intelligence by pumping oxygen with adapted gills, each needing a large territory for hunting or herding meat animals.

There are more data about Ythrians in the post "Who Knows Of Avalon?" (April, 2012).

Who Knows of Avalon?

In "The Problem of Pain"

"...intermediate in size between Earth and Ythri, surface gravity 0.8 terrestrial;
"slightly more irradiation, from a somewhat yellower sun, than Earth gets, which simply makes it a little warmer;
"axial tilt, therefore seasonal variations, a bit less than terrestrial;
"length of year about three quarters of ours, length of day a bit under half;
"one small, close in, bright moon;
"biochemistry similar to ours - we could eat most native things, though we'd require imported crops and livestock to supplement the diet.
"All in all, seemingly well-nigh perfect." (1)

South of the largest continent, a great gulf swarms with life. A strong eastward current is deflected north by an archipelago. Monstrous marine creatures graze on floating islands of densely interwoven "atlantis weed" probably also supporting lesser plants and animals. Higher solar energy input and rapid rotation make storms more violent than would be possible on Earth.

On an island in the gulf:

"A mat of mossy, intensely green plants squeezed out any possibility of forest." (2)

Surgeon trees' thin leaf-fringed bows, sharp enough to cut a wing from a swooping Ythrian, whip insanely in the wind which blows gorgeous blossoms torn from vines. Widespread low, russet-leaved, rankly odorous hell shrubs clutch at feet with raking twigs and emit vapours scarcely harming Ythrians but slowly poisoning human beings. Waterfowl fly through a rose, gold and silver-blue sunrise.

In "Wingless"

Ythrians and human beings settle different territories in the Hesperian Islands before jointly colonising the Coronan continent. Nat Falkayn, seventeen Avalonian (twelve Terran) years of age when visiting the Ythrian extended household of Weathermaker Choth:

"...stood on a balcony of that tall stone tower which housed the core families. Below were a paved courtyard and rambling wooden buildings. Meadows where meat animals grazed sloped downhill in Terrestrial grass and clover, Ythrian starbell and rye, Terrestrial oak and pine, Ythrian braidbark and copperwood, until cultivation gave way to the reddish mat of native susin, the scattered intense green of native chasuble bush and delicate blue of janie. The sun Laura stood big and golden-colored at morning, above a distantly glimpsed mercury line of ocean. Elsewhere wandered a few cottony clouds and the pale, sinking ghost of Morgana. A flock of Avalonian draculas passed across view, their leathery wings awkward beside the plumed splendor of Keshchyi's." (3)

Morgana is the moon, brighter and faster than Luna. Keshchyi is a young Ythrian.

Whirlpools around the dark coraloid reefs at a lagoon entrance hold "...thick brown nets of atlantis weed torn loose from a greater mass far out to sea..." (4)

In "Rescue on Avalon"

The highest Avalonian mountains are called the Andromeda Range by human beings and the Weathermother by Ythrians. (Hloch of the Stormgate Choth wrote The Earthbook of Stormgate on the peak of Mount Anrovil in the Weathermother.) Ironleaf trees draw metal from the soil and concentrate pure particles in shining purple leaves which attract pollinating bugs and also absorb radio waves. A hospital window opens on Avalonian king's-crown, Ythrian windnest and Earthly oak.

The Parliament of Man and the Great Khruath of the Ythrians divided continental territory between the species. Human beings need prairies for crops whereas Ythrian hunters occupy the Weathermother.

In The People of the Wind, Chapter One

The city of Gray on Falkayn Bay is surrounded by human-owned grain-fields, Ythrian-owned pastures for maukh and mayaw, forests of oak, pine, windnest or hammerbranch and treeless areas of native susin where some barysauroids survive. Even in Gray, humans, with ample room on Avalon, build low. Highrises are for ornithoids (Ythrians).

"Laura, a G5 star, has only 72 per cent the luminosity of Sol and less ultraviolet light in proportion; but Avalon, orbiting at a mean distance of 0.81 astronomical unit in a period of 0.724 Terran, gets 10 percent more total irradiation than man evolved under." (5)

Christopher Holm, thirty years Avalonian old, has joined Stormgate Choth as Arinninan. The Stormgate compound:

"...stood on a plateau of Mount Fairview. At the middle lifted the old stone tower which housed the senior members of the family and their children. Lower wooden structures, on whose sod roofs bloomed amberdragon and starbells, were for the unwed and retainers and their kin. Further down a slope lay sheds, barns, and mews. The whole could not be seen at once from the ground, because Ythrian trees grew among the buildings: braidbark, copperwood, gaunt lightningrod, jewelleaf which sheened beneath the moon and by day would shimmer iridescent. The flowerbeds held natives, more highly evolved than anything from offplanet - sweet small janie, pungent livewell, graceful trefoil and Buddha's cup, a harp vine which the breeze brought ever so faintly to singing. Otherwise the night was quiet and, at this, altitude, cold." (6)

Avalonian constellations include Wheel, Swords, Zirraukh, Ship and Maukh.

Chapter Two

"Avalon rotates in 11 hours, 22 minutes, 12 seconds, on an axis tilted 21 degrees from the normal to the orbital plane. Thus Gray, at about 43 degrees N., knows short nights always; in summer the darkness seems scarcely a blink." (7)

Human fluid balance and kinesthesia have had to readjust to a gravity field only 80 percent Terran. Ythrians shifting their breeding cycle to Avalonian conditions had low fertility in early generations.

Humans who join choths "go bird." Ythrians who leave choths to become atomic individuals within the global community become "Walkers." Mistwood Choth, like the home world Ythri, has successfully adapted Terran technology.

Chapter Three

Equatorial diameter: 11,308 kilometers. Highest Andromedan peak: 4500 meters. Corona, the north polar continent extending past the Tropic of Swords: eight million square kilometers, comparable to Australia. In the Southern hemisphere, Equatoria, New Africa and New Gaiila are small continents or large islands.

2000 kilometres west of Gray, the Oronesian archipelago crosses the Tropic of Spears, separating the Middle Ocean to the West from the Hesperian Sea in the northern hemisphere and the South Ocean beyond the equator. Oronesia supports a distinct ecology. Eccentrics flee there to settle islands and found choths of only a single household. However, the more numerous Highsky Choth occupies much of the archipelago and controls the fisheries around latitude 30 degrees North. Tabitha Falkayn, Hrill of Highsky, is a third generation human member of her choth and was brought up by Ythrians. Western Corona and northern Oronesia must defend the Hesperian Sea against Terrans.

Upper slopes have susin and a few shrubs. Lower, cultivated ground has red Ythrian clustergrain to feed shuas and Terrestrial fruit trees to feed Highsky humans. A herder and his uhoth control flapping shuas while an Ythrian sailor scouts for piscoids and native pteropleuron lumber around.

Chapter Four is about Terrans preparing to attack Avalon from Esperance.

Chapter Five

The main Ythrian language is Planha, the equivalent of Terran Anglic. Khruaths, gatherings open to all free adults in a given territory, have judicial and limited legislative authority. Wyvans, the presiding officers, explain the law and try suits but cannot compel. If non-compliance is deemed sufficiently serious, then the Wyvans cry Oherran, calling on everyone in the territory to attack the offenders. Rejection of the call would be a deathpride matter, with suicide the Wyvans' only option.

Addendum, Sun 23 Nov 2015: I was too brief about the Khruaths -

an ancient Khruath was a periodic gathering open to all free adults in a territory;
later, regional Khruaths elected delegates to Year-Khruaths covering larger territories;
Year-Khruaths send delegates to the High Khruath of the planet, meeting every six years or on extraordinary occasions;
Wyvans are chosen at each level;
however, any free adult can attend a Khruath at any level.

Chapter Six

The only other Avalonian city is Centauri at the mouth of the Sagittarius in the Gulf of Centaurs. In the Phoenix House, Tabitha/Hrill orders a catflower cocktail. She and Chris/Arinnian eat piscoid-and-tomato chowder, beef-and-shua pie, salad of clustergrain leaf and pears and drink coffee spiced with witchroot and a bottle of vintage dago. The Nest, a tavern for ornithoids, is the tallest building in Centauri with a gravshaft to its rooftop for humans who have not brought flying gear. It is unwalled, protected from rain by a vitryl canopy. Insectoids circle fluoroglobes and a service robot serves New African beer.

Most of Highsky keeps to the Old Faith, using drugs in sacred revels. Other planets in the Lauran System are Elysium, Camelot, Phaeacia and Utgard.

Chapters Seven and Eight describe a battle in space.

Chapter Nine

Morgana is smaller than Luna but, being close, raises twice the tides. The Avalonian vertebrate design is hexapodal. Winged creatures have four legs. The dense mat of low-growing vegetation prevents native forests and helps to explain why animals remain reptiloid, unable to compete with mammals or birds. Trees are low and thick or slim and supple to survive high winds caused by rapid rotation. Imported domestic animals had to be revamped genetically because local food lacks some vitamins.

In Chapter Ten, the Terran Admiral parleys with Avalonian leaders and a fallen Avalonian, the First Marchwarden, is laid to rest.

Chapter Eleven

High Wyvan Liaw of the Tarns addresses the Great Khruath of Avalon from outside David Falkayn's house on First Island in the Hesperian Sea. On a North Coronan prairie, a flapping youth leads a herd of quadrupedal burden-bearing zirraukhs. South-East from Oronesia are the Brendan's, Fiery and Shielding Islands. Atlantis weed patches are entire ecologies grazed by peaceful but huge kraken. David Falkayn's granddaughter named Avalon. Equatorian centaurs use tools of stone and bone.

Chapters Twelve and Thirteen are mainly about the consequences of the war in space.

Chapter Thirteen

In winter, snow falls in North Corona and in the mountains but not in Gray where "...the susin stayed green on its hills the year around." (8)

Chapter Fourteen

Zirraukhs are warm-blooded quadrupeds smaller than horses and unlike them but used for the same purpose.

Chapter Fifteen

An Ythrian swoops on a pteropleuron that had been hunting piscoids near the surface of the sea.

Chapter Sixteen

Grief causes premature ovulation in a bereaved Ythrian female. A male seeks her out. This is not against choth law and the female's human chothmate, Arinnian, has no cause to challenge so he insults the Ythrian male until the latter challenges him.

Chapter Seventeen

On the Scorpelunan plateau in Equatoria, hexapods graze under their parasol membranes. Packs of dog-sized hexapodal lycosauroids and throngs of twenty centimeter long cockroach-like kakkelaks attack Terran invaders who are being slowly poisoned by hell shrubs. Furious tropical storms caused by high irradiation and fast spin delay evacuation.

Chapter Eighteen

Smaragdine susin, chasuble bush and Buddha's cup grow on a hill above Falkayn Bay. 

Chapter Nineteen

Trefoil and sword-of-sorrow grow in the grass. Harp vines ring. Jewelleafs twinkle. Morgana is less bright because scarred by Terran bombardment.

Why Am I Doing This?

I have summarized an alternative reading. We read an Anderson novel to follow the story. We appreciate that there are rich background details but do not usually pause to savor the details. I have noted as many details as I can of the planet Avalon.

(1) Poul Anderson, "The Problem of Pain" IN Anderson, The Earth Book of Stormgate, New York, 1978, pp. 26-48, AT p. 33.
(2) ibid., p. 40.
(3) Poul Anderson, "Wingless" IN The Earth Book of Stormgate, pp. 411-420, AT pp. 413-414.
(4) ibid., p. 417.
(5) Poul Anderson, The People of the Wind, London, 1977, p. 7.
(6) ibid., p. 10.
(7) ibid., p. 18.
(8) ibid., p. 127.