What Cairncross Thought

When Emperor Gerhart converses with Edwin Cairncross, information about the state of the Empire is principally conveyed not by what Gerhart says but by what Cairncross thinks:

their period is an age of plots, murders, revolutions, betrayals and upheavals;

Gerhart is widely believed to have killed his brother and predecessor, Dietrich;

however, Gerhart is tolerated because the Empire needs a strong hand against civil war, Merseians and barbarians;

the Molitors' only claim to the Throne is their strength;

they are not descended from the Founder.

The reader either already understands or will soon realize that Cairncross thinks that that strong hand should be his, not Gerhart's.

At least four men plot or attempt to seize the Throne by force during Flandry's lifetime:

McCormac

Molitor

Cairncross

Magnusson

Flandry defeats McCormac and Cairncross. Molitor succeeds. Another Intelligence agent, Targovi, leading a neat little combo including Flandry's daughter, defeats Magnusson. During Gerhart's reign, Flandry is able to influence Crown Prince Karl. And we want to read more.

Emperors On The Empire: The Sources

What do the Terran Emperors themselves tell us about their Empire? Or, indeed, do any of them say anything particularly illuminating on this subject?

Our sources are:

Manuel Argos in conversation with John Henry Reeves:

Poul Anderson, "The Star Plunderer" IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 325-362 AT pp. 354-360.

Hans Molitor in conversation with Dominic Flandry:

Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 239-426 AT III, pp. 266-271.

Gerhart Molitor in conversation with Grand Duke Edwin Cairncross:

Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 1-188 AT V, pp. 49-55.

Also, Crown Prince Josip, not yet Emperor, converses with Lord Markus Hauksberg in:

Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010) AT CHAPTER ONE, p. 9.

We will find out.

The Doings Of The Great

A Stone In Heaven, X.

For the second time, Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes, is viewpoint character and this time he confirms that he intends to become Emperor. We have been assuming that Flandry's suspicion is correct but now we read Cairncross' mind and need no longer assume or suspect.

What else do we know about the doings of the great? When will the relatively new King of England visit his Duchy of Lancaster? There are rumours of preparations at the Castle. Will Jeremy Corbyn launch an electoral challenge to Labour? There are some indications. Donald Trump might have started something. Now, in Britain, when trade unionists demonstrate against the stated policies of a newly elected party, their representative, addressing the media, begins by saying, "We are not, like Trump, denying the validity of the outcome of the election..." Beyond that, I cannot speculate about who will do what next. (Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop is better at doing that.) From the perspective of Poul Anderson's Technic History, we are still deep within the Chaos when many events must be inherently unpredictable which they are most of the time anyway. We want to live long enough to see what will happen next and maybe also influence it. Fiction illuminates possibilities although a future history series that combines later speculative fiction with earlier space opera cannot be fully serious futurology. Something will have to be done about the environment and in space before we can begin to approach a version of Technic civilization.

Political Changes In The Maian System

A Stone In Heaven, II.

We knew what the situation was at the end of Mirkheim but a lot of time has passed. What has changed? 

Hermes is no longer as rich as powerful as it was and no longer has constitutional government.

Its current dynasty of Grand Dukes is a line of military dictators.

The present Grand Duke, Edwin Cairncross, deposed his own brother.

He is not of Tamarin descent but does bear some Argolid genes unlike the present Emperor, a son of the usurper, Hans Molitor.

Hans took the Protectorate of Mirkheim from Hermes in order to secure financial support on Terra.

Cairncross has directed the settlement of the interior of the single continent, Greatland, on Hermes but is strangely unsympathetic to the xenological foundation on nearby Ramnu where the Hermetian company, General Enterprises, conducts some expanding although unspecified industrial operations.

The attentive reader deduces that Cairncross is up to no good on Ramnu and that Miriam Abrams' old family friend, Dominic Flandry, will fly to her rescue.

Across three chapters, the narrative point of view segues from Yewwl to Abrams to Cairncross to Flandry.

A Stone In Heaven

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, further candidates for mini-bio treatment are:

the usurper, Hans Molitor;

the pretender, Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes;

the pretender, Admiral Sir Olaf Magnusson;

Magnusson's father, Erik.

We will perhaps reread A Stone In Heaven which features Cairncross. A Stone... is dedicated to John K. Hord whose theory of history Anderson applies in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows and in A Stone...

In the opening chapter of A Stone..., the Ramnuan, Yewwl, has an oath-sister, "Banner," based in Wainwright Station. The name of the station suggests that it is staffed by human beings but we do not at first suspect, although we will soon be informed, that "Banner" is Miriam Abrams. Nor has the text yet confirmed that Ramnu exists in the Technic History universe.

Other reading: I think that there is a structural problem in Robert Harris' Conclave relating to the seal of Confession.

Emperors In DUNE And The Technic History

 

A spectacular film has an undeniable visual impact at least. Having seen Dune, Part 2, will I reread Dune? Will I compare and contrast it with Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization? Will that draw disagreement from defenders of Frank Herbert's works? A major theme of this blog is that anything that can be found in Foundation, Dune, the Future History, Star Trek or Star Wars can be found better in the Technic History.

One obvious comparison is that both series have not only an interstellar Empire but also an individual Emperor. In Dune, Part 2, Paul Atreides confronts and subordinates the Emperor. What does Poul Anderson give us? First, a history with the Terran Empire beginning, developing through at least two discrete stages and eventually ending. In addition, there are several different characters:

(i) the Founder of the Empire in "The Star Plunderer."

(ii) In Ensign Flandry, Emperor Georgios' birthday. Georgios does not appear in the novel but a film could cameo him during the birthday celebrations in the opening scenes.

(iii) Also in Ensign Flandry, Crown Prince Josip, the future Emperor, receives guests at the Coral Palace.

(iv) In A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, Crown Prince Dietrich, a future Emperor, receives while his younger brother, Gerhart, another future Emperor, gets imperially drunk with cronies. Later, Emperor Hans, the first of the Emperors to appear while Emperor, confers with Dominic Flandry.

(v) In A Stone In Heaven, Emperor Gerhart confers with Edwin Cairncross.

That is all but it is a lot, considering the biographies and impacts of these individuals.

In The Coral Palace

In Ensign Flandry, Markus Hauksberg meets the seven critical members of the Policy Board in a secret, sealed office beneath the ballroom of the Coral Palace. Before joining them, he sees through the ballroom dome that:

"The darkness enclosed by the Lunar crescent was pinpointed with city lights."

-Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER ONE, p. 10.

- which confirms again that those metrocenters are on Luna.

In A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, Dominic Flandry meets Emperor Hans in a room at the top of a tower with a domed roof transparent from waist height. There is a dolchzahn skin rug and a model of a corvette.

In A Stone In Heaven, Emperor Gerhart and Edwin Cairncross converse in a suite in the highest tower. They are under a clear dome. There is a dolchzahn skin rug and a model of a corvette. Presumably the same room where Gerhart's father had received Flandry.

There is always more but maybe that is all for tonight.

(We want to see more on Terra than - mostly - Admiralty buildings and the Coral Palace. But there is some more to come.)

Earlier Naval Careers

In two recent posts, we listed thirteen Terran Naval careers, plus Edwin Cairncross's five-year hitch, but these all happened during Dominic Flandry's lifetime. Earlier in the Technic History:

John Reeves was a Lieutenant in the Solar Commonwealth Navy but became a Rear Admiral in the Imperial Solar Navy under Manuel I;

Commander Helena Jansky, commanding HM Ganymede during the expedition into the Black Nebula, was accompanied by Basil Donovan, formerly a Captain in the independent Ansan Navy;

Fleet Admiral Juan de Jesus Cajal y Palomares led the Terran fleet against the Domain of Ythri;

Lieutenant (j.g.) Philippe Rochefort captained the Meteor-class ship, Hooting Star, which was crewed by fire control officer, CPO Wa Chaou, and engineer-computerman CPO Abdullah Helu;

Ferune, Wyvan of Mistwood Choth and First Marchwarden of the Lauran System, commanded the fleet defending Avalon.

Less Distinguished Naval Careers

See Imperial Officers.

In Sector Alpha Crucis, Admiral Hugh McCormac rebels and tries to become Emperor but is forced into exile by Flandry.

On Hermes, Edwin Cairncross, youngest son by a second marriage of the Duke, enlists for a five-year hitch, is promoted during the suppression of the Nyanzan revolt and again during the Terran-Merseian confrontation at Syrax, leaves with the rank of lieutenant commander, forces his older half-brother to abdicate, becomes Duke and plans to seize the Imperial Throne by force but is defeated by Flandry.

Admiral Olaf Magnusson, a Merseian sleeper, rebels and tries to become Emperor but is defeated by a small group, including Flandry's illegitimate daughter, Diana Crowfeather.

Fleet Admiral Sandberg and Admiral da Costa must deal with Dennitza during the difficult period when that planet and the whole Taurian Sector nearly split from the Empire. Sandberg threatens to have Gospodar Bodin Miyatovich removed as sector viceroy but later da Costa accepts the good faith of the provisional government run by Flandry.

Thus, we add five more prominent Naval names:

McCormac

Cairncross

Magnusson

Sandberg

da Costa

Continuing Villains

A continuing villain, whether individual or collective, should not appear in every instalment of a series. In Ian Fleming's Moonraker, Sir Hugo Drax is backed not by SMERSH but by Russian military intelligence, GRU (as was Stieg Larsson's Zala). In Diamonds Are Forever, the Russians are not involved when Bond takes on the (American) Spangled Mob.

In Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry series, the collective continuing villain is the Merseians while the individual continuing villains are Aycharaych and Tachwyr. None of these guys are involved in A Stone In Heaven. Edwin Cairncross thinks:

"'You pulled the fangs of the Merseians at Chereion, and we no longer have to worry about them.'"

-A Stone In Heaven, III, p. 37.

Flandry replies:

"'Oh, but I'm afraid we do....'" (ibid.)

And, sure enough, in the following volume, The Game Of Empire, Tachwyr presides as a long-laid plan of the now vanished Aycharaych comes to fruition. But surely that is the last? We know that the Merseians are no longer around as an interstellar power when the Terran Empire finally falls. I think that the demoralization caused by repeated defeats inflicted by Flandry is evident:

"'Our net loss is minor.'

"'Except for hope,' Tachwyr mumbled."

-Poul Anderson, The Game Of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT Chapter Twenty-Two, p. 447.

Past Periods Of The Technic History

Preparing for an interview with Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes, Flandry reviews the planet Hermes both historically and socially. Thus, two pages of  A Stone In Heaven summarize events from both the Polesotechnic League period and the Terran Empire period of the Technic History. The star Maia in Sector Antares has a terrestroid planet with a single continent, arid in its interior, colonized along its coasts by corporations which built a stratified state that caused much social unrest particularly during the Baburite occupation of the planet. Hermes gained protectorship of Babur and stewardship of Mirkheim, the source of supermetals. Militarized during the Troubles, Hermes joined the newly founded Terran Empire. Before becoming Grand Duke, Cairncross had enlisted in the Imperial Navy and:

"...had served well, earning promotions during the suppression of the Nyanzan revolt and in the Syrax confrontation."

-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 1-188 AT III, p. 34.

Anderson makes maximal use of his already existing fictional history:

in Mirkheim, the Babur War is fought for possession of Mirkheim (discovered by David Falkayn) and Falkayn returns home to Hermes during its Baburite occupation;

in "The Star Plunderer," Manuel Argos ends the Troubles by founding the Empire;

in "The Game of Glory," Dominic Flandry counteracts Merseian subversion on Nyanza;

in "Hunters of the Sky Cave," Flandry helps to end the Syrax deadlock.

Four names:

Falkayn

Argos

Flandry

Cairncross

More Mainstream-SF Interaction

First off, references to human cloning in Poul Anderson's sf. Second off, a reference to human cloning in sf in mainstream fiction. Third off, Brian Aldiss's succinct comparison of mainstream with sf.

In Anderson's Psychotechnic History, the Un-Men are clones of Stefan Rostomily. In his Technic History, Duke Edwin Cairncross plans to clone himself when he has usurped the Imperial Throne.

"'...as far as I know cloning exists only in the pages of science fiction."

-Susan Howatch, Mystical Paths (London, 1996), PART TWO, TWO, I, pp. 358-359.

Thus, Howatch's character refers obliquely to works like Anderson's future histories.

"The virtue of sf is that it presents man in relation to his surroundings: man on another planet, man in a different era, man faced with alien life, man against one of his own inventions. Without making too large a claim for it, we may say that sf is the only way of dealing with ourselves as an organic part of the universe; whereas the ordinary novel can only portray us as a part of human society. This is the justification of the term 'science-fiction' - not, perhaps, as hideous a term as it seems."

-Brian Aldiss, Space, Time And Nathaniel (London, 1966), INTRODUCTION, p. 11.

 

"Mankind as an organic part of the universe" is a sound description of Poul Anderson's works.

 

Also appropriate is the concluding phrase of the concluding story in STAN:

 

"...a voice singing in a new universe."

-Brian Aldiss, "Dumb Show" IN Space, Time And Nathaniel, pp. 153-159 AT p. 159.

Successful Revolution?

A Stone In Heaven, VI.

Flandry assesses Cairncross's chances of making a successful coup. Many Hermetians will support him. With a well-organized operation and a surprise strike, he will be able to kill Gerhart, proclaim himself Emperor and claim to be righting wrongs as well as providing able leadership.

"A lot of Navy officers will feel they should go along with him simply to end the strife before it ruins too much, and because he is now the alternative to a throne back up for grabs. Others, as his cause gathers momentum, will deem it prudent to join. Yes, Edwin has a good chance of pulling it off, amply good for a warrior born." (pp. 107)

Our present English monarchy dates not only from a Conquest but also from a "Glorious Revolution," a term applied in The Game Of Empire to Molitor's seizure of power.

• Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
  Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
  • Epigrams, Book iv, Epistle 5. Compare: "Prosperum ac felix scelus/ Virtus vocatur" ("Successful and fortunate crime/ is called virtue"), Seneca, Herc. Furens, ii. 250.
  • -copied from here.
    

 

 

Doublecross Cairncross

A Stone In Heaven, II.

What is Duke Edwin playing at?

"Thank God for giving him the foresight to have Sten Runeberg's house bugged, after he'd gotten the man fired from Ramnu." (p. 27)

"There was no way, under these conditions, to arrange an abduction or assassination. Anything untoward would be too damnably suspicious, in a period when a degree of suspicion was already aimed at Cairncross." (p. 28)

The Duke's surname is Cairncross. We do not yet know what his game is but now the novel has its heroine, Miriam Abrams, and its villain, Duke Edwin, and, further down p. 28, at the beginning of Chapter III, we will meet the hero:

"Vice Admiral Dominic Flandry, Intelligence Corps, Imperial Terran Navy..."

Flandry has been carefully led up to through the viewpoints of Yewwl, then Abrams, then the Duke.

Abrams has confirmed that her father was Flandry's superior on Starkad and has since died. We are very much in a "Children of Empire" period but I have listed the various offspring of Flandry and his contemporaries a few times already.

We re-appreciated the beauty of Starfall on Hermes when Abrams visited Sten Runeberg and now we look forward to revisiting Flandry's place in Archopolis on Terra.

Where's Olga?

A Stone In Heaven, II.

From his battlemented tower on an extinct volcano in the middle of the Hermetian continent, Greatland, Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes, sees:

Antares;

 

Mogul, sun of Babur, the Hermetian Protectorate;

 

Olga, the constellation that contains, invisibly of course, the extinct sun of Mirkheim;

 

the Milky Way;

 

not Sol, which is too far away.

How many Olgas are there in the Technic History?

The Grand Survey spaceship, Olga, discovers Ythri and Avalon;

the explorers of Avalon include Olga Berg;

Olga's Landing is a city on Imhotep;

Olga is a constellation on Hermes.

Greatland

Mirkheim, X.

Grand Duchess Sandra and her son, Eric, discuss their response to the Baburite invasion.

"'We can organize guerillas.'

"'They'd spend near their whole time surviving.' At the present epoch, Hermes had a single continent, Greatland, so enormous that most of its interior was a desert of blazing summers and bitter winters. 'Worse, they'd invite reprisals on everybody else. And never could they defeat well-equipped troops on the ground, missile-throwing ships in orbit.'" (p. 153)

 

A conversation can be narrated without identifying a point of view. See the description of the dialogue between van Rijn and Hirharouk in Coya Conyon. I had to check but this conversation between Sandra and Eric is definitely narrated from her pov. Her cigar smoke tastes harsh.

However, of particular interest is the explanatory interpolation, beginning "At the present epoch..." A future historian, recounting the conversation, pauses to explain to his audience the geology of Hermes in that long past epoch.

 

For the development of Greatland by a later Grand Duke, see the link from "Hermes," also Edwin Cairncross's Ambitions.

Loyalty Rewarded

A Stone In Heaven, X.

Edwin Cairncross, the would-be Terran Emperor, reflects:

"And why shouldn't [Flandry] join me? What does he owe Gerhart? He's been slighted, ignored, shunted aside. I'd have the brains to reward such a follower as he deserved, and listen to him." (p. 134)

Cairncross has no understanding that a man like Flandry will stand by his oath whether or not he as an individual is slighted and ignored!

Years ago, I heard an extremely cynical discussion of such issues on British TV. One expert said that:

the state's interests and an individual's interests should be identical simply because the state should reward the individual sufficiently for his services;

a conflict of interests arises only when, despite his ample rewards, the individual starts to entertain ideas like "freedom," "justice" etc!

I respectfully suggest that any individual should consider such ideas before he enters the state's service.

A woman said that, even earlier, several attempts had been made to recruit her to the Communist Party and that, each time, the inducement offered had been that she would hold a high position in a new regime! Appealing to individual self-interest to further a supposedly communistic objective is an ultimate absurdity.

Cairncross' aim, of course, is not communistic but:

"...to give the Empire the strong, wise government it so desperately needs, to found a dynasty armored in legitimacy against usurpers..." (ibid.)

A noble aim for a usurper!

His identification of Imperial interests with self-interest is completed in this immediately following phrase:

"...yes, then I'll clone myself..." (ibid)

Secrets

Dominic Flandry guards Imperial secrets, steals enemy secrets and accumulates personal secrets as his career progresses.

Leon Ammon:

"'...I did notice you and had you studied. I learned more than stands on any public record, boy. The whole Starkad business pivoted on you.'
"Shocked, Flandry wondered how deeply the rot had eaten, if the agent of a medium-scale vice boss on a tenth-rate frontier planet could obtain such information."
-A Circus Of Hells, CHAPTER TWO, p. 207.

Vice Admiral Sir Ilya Kheraskov:

"'...we've taken quite an interest in you since the Starkad affair. That had to be hushed up, of course, but it was not forgotten. Your subsequent assignment to surveillance had intriguing consequences.' Flandry could not totally suppress a twinge of alarm. Kheraskov chuckled again; it sounded like iron chains. 'We've learned things that you hushed up. Don't worry...yet.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 AT CHAPTER TWO, pp. 383-384.

For at least the third time, Flandry is told that he will either come to grief or go far.

After Flandry has successfully completed the mission assigned to him by Kheraskov, there is considerable suspicion, although no proof, of irregularities, including high treason and murder.

Grand Duke Edwin Cairncross:

"'The business wasn't publicized - would've been awkward for diplomacy, right? - but a man in my kind of position has ways of learning things if he's interested. You pulled the fangs of the Merseians at Chereion, and we no longer have to worry about them.'"
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT III, p. 37.

So Intelligence covers up some of Flandry's assignments and also some of his private escapades because it is in their interests to keep him in their ranks.

The Constitution Of Hermes

There has been combox discussion of Hermetian politics here. I had previously summarized information about Hermes here. This paragraph summarized the Hermetian constitution:

When Hermes declared independence from Terra, its new constitution recognized the Kindred as the Thousand Families controlling the "domains": either landed estates or corporations. The presidents of the domains elect the Duke or Duchess of Hermes from the Tamarin family which must not own a domain. Ancestors of Kindred and Tamarins were the first to arrive from Earth but, instead of founding a corporation, the Tamarins free lanced as scientists etc. "Followers," holding entailed shares, are junior partners in domains, each holding a single vote in domain affairs whereas Kindred have ten. "Travers," hirelings or unaffiliated business people, descended from latecomers, are not taxed and have no vote. The Liberation Front demands full rights for Travers who, as a result of "Libby" campaigns, gain a vote in choosing municipal officers. Travers bow to the Duchess, Followers salute, Kindred shake hands.

The following paragraph describes how one Follower negotiated with Travers:

The Asmundsens, Followers of the Runebergs and tenants on the Brightwater estate, manage the Runeberg's copper industry. A younger Asmundsen, who explores and develops other planets in the Maian system, is obliged by custom to give preferential promotions to fellow Followers but acknowledges that his strike-threatening Traver employees have legitimate grievances which he tries to address by negotiating in person with their leaders and offering compensations like extra vacations

I wrote that, after the Babur War, Hermes:

became an ordinary crowned republic while remaining nominally a Grand Duchy

At least, that is what was expected to happen. However, during the Troubles, Hermes:

developed a military-oriented society with authority concentrated in the executive and rule by whoever commanded the greatest armed force;

When Hans Molitor seized the Imperial Throne, Hermes:

rioted against forced demilitarization under Molitor and was pacified by the Marines;
prospered under Grand Duke Edwin Cairncross who reclaimed the interior with canals, landscaping, imported species, urbanization, commerce and a castle on an extinct volcano.

And that is as much as we know about Hermes.  

Secret Weapons Production On Three Planets

In Poul Anderson's Technic History:

secluded automated weapons production enables Avalon to prepare a surprise for the attacking Terran Imperial Space Navy;

Edwin Cairncross, Duke of Hermes, plotting to seize the Imperial Throne, employs Ramnuans to manufacture military equipment and stockpiles torpedoes, artillery etc on the Ramnuan moon, Elvali.

In Julian May's Galactic Milieu:

the Metapsychic Rebellion of the Human Polity against the Milieu was delayed for ten years because the Rebels were unable to manufacture illegal mental weaponry on Caledonia when Dorothea Macdonald became First Deputy Dirigent and the weapons had to be produced later on Satsuma.

Hopefully, the future will not be like that. However, various authors, including Anderson and May, make interstellar rebellions and wars seem very plausible - assuming only the questionable premises of faster than light travel and colonize-able extra-solar planets. (The latter premise has become much more plausible with the comparatively recent discovery of many planetary systems.)