Port Kestrel

In Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind, we read about the cities of Gray on Falkayn Bay and of Centauri on the Gulf of Centaurs, both on the colonized planet, Avalon. Elsewhere in Anderson's Technic History, we read about the city of Starfall on Daybreak Bay on the colonized planet, Hermes.

Similarly, in Anderson's The Fleet Of Stars, we read about the small town of Port Kestrel at the mouth of the Lily River on an island shore of the Azurian Ocean on the colonized planet, Amaterasu. Port Kestrel has boats, bridges, bright buildings, trees and a communications mast. Amaterasu is being terraformed and grass grows on several islets. Above and around the port are plantations, industries and parks with dandelions and harebells. Dark native thalassophyte still grows in patches while imported seagulls fly above it. Elsewhere on Amaterasu, terraforming continues among glaciers and deserts.

Although The Fleet Of Stars is Volume IV of a later and very different future history series, its sceneries are described in comparably minute detail. 

Tabitha Falkayn On Falkayn Bay

The People Of The Wind, XVIII.

I am revisiting one of my favourite scenes in Poul Anderson's Technic History and finding that I have already quoted it three times:

Livewell On The Wind

In Gray

Back In Gray

We know Gray and Falkayn Bay and the mixed vegetation of Avalon. Poul Anderson conveys a sense of place as some mainstream writers have been able to do for London, Paris, Dublin etc and as Poul and Karen Anderson did for Ys.

The time for walking across town to the Chinese New Year concert approaches.

Laterz.

Abrams On Hermes

A Stone In Heaven, II.

To travel from Ramnu to Terra, Miriam Abrams must renew her medical certificate. This bureaucratic requirement is an all too plausible detail like several others in A Stone...

She must travel via Hermes, originally introduced as David Falkayn's home planet but long remaining off-stage until it was invaded by the Baburites in Mirkheim. Poul Anderson piles on Hermetian references. In addition to those already mentioned, we find:

Daybreak Bay

Pilgrim Hill

the Palomino River

the keeps

daleflower

a trilling tilirra

blinking glowflies

Riverside Common

millionleaf trees

rainroof trees

the Auroral Ocean

There was both an Old and a New Keep in Starfall but the former was destroyed in the liberation from the Baburite occupation. It crumbled under bombardment until a Merseian emerged from the wreckage waving a white flag. Maybe a newer records keep has since been built.

Closing Scenes

The People Of The Wind, XVIII.

We have appreciated this scene before. Emerging from the improvised hospital outside Gray, Tabitha Falkayn stands, in a murmuring, livewell-scented wind, atop a hill of emerald susin and Avalonian flowers above the gardened city and glittering Bay. We have seen Falkayn Bay, named after Tabitha's ancestor, the Founder of Avalon, often enough that it has become a familiar background setting and we particularly appreciate these concluding scenes set on both Avalon and Esperance.

Arinnian's closing speech to Tabitha celebrates Poul Anderson's twin values of freedom and diversity.

"Snowpeaks flamed. The sun stood up in a shout of light.

"High is heaven and holy." (XIX, p. 662)

Eyath flies home to Stormgate which is where we find Hloch perched on the peak of Mount Anrovil in the Weathermother when he introduces the following volume of Anderson's Technic History, The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

Fair winds forever.

Familiarity

The People Of The Wind is the fourth and last appearance of the planet Avalon in Poul Anderson's Technic History and the sixth and second last appearance by an Ythrian or Ythrians in the Technic History. These finite numbers of instalments generate a sense of a much longer acquaintance with a place and a people.

David Falkayn's mother, Athena, and brother, John, each appear only once, in different scenes, in Mirkheim. But we know the Falkayn family.

(Tolkien has Mirkwood. Anderson has Mirkheim and Mistwood.)

The city of Gray on Avalon seems very real and familiar when Daniel Holm glances out his window:

a clear winter's day although, at this latitude and altitude, there is no snow so that the hills remain green with susin;

whooping wind, cold but exultant;

dancing whitecaps on Falkayn Bay;

cloak-clad men and women;

swooping Ythrians.

We are there.

The Two Avalonian Cities

The People Of The Wind.

The two Avalonian cities, Gray on Falkayn Bay and Centauri on the Gulf of Centaurs, are very different from each other and are described in detail. Arinnian flies above then inland from Gray and spends time with Tabitha in Centauri where it is usually safer for him to be Christopher. We find that we have previously posted about both cities:

Gray

In Centauri

Livewell Street

In The Phoenix House

In The Phoenix House And The Nest

In The Nest

Gray and Centauri are more concretely realized than Stellamont on Nerthus in Poul Anderson's earlier Psychotechnic History. It is good to be able to compare them.

Details On Avalon

Rereading Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind, Chapter I, we find that it is extremely rich in details but, on the other hand, they have all been recorded on this blog before and can be found by searching the blog. See in particular:

Who Knows of Avalon? 

Falkayn Bay (blog search result)

The city of Gray on the planet Avalon is named after the captain of the Grand Survey ship, Olga, which made first contact with Ythri and discovered Avalon. The city is on Falkayn Bay which, of course, is named after the Founder of the Avalonian colony, David Falkayn.

Three ecologies coexist: native Avalonian; imported Terran and Ythrian. Many plant and animal species are named and described as if by someone who is acquainted with them. Native flowers include:

"...sweet small janie, pungent livewell, graceful trefoil and Buddha's cup..."

-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT I, p. 444.

Names must have been bestowed by colonists because there are no native Avalonians. The last flower listed here must have been named by Terrans!

Poul Anderson's characters live in this history and we feel as though we do too.

Breakfast And Work

Mirkheim, II.

What I was trying to convey in the previous post was a sense of daily life in the future: morning routines and rituals even if these were in the home of the Grand Duchess, not of a Hermetian commoner/"Traver." 

Sandra's bedroom opens onto a balcony from which she looks across Starfall to Daybreak Bay and the Auroral Ocean. Her breakfast room, when she strides there, is:

"...fragrant with cooking in the kitchen." (p. 51)

- although, unfortunately, we are not told what she and her son, Eric, consume apart from coffee. He stands as she enters in accordance with Hermetian custom. A waiter brings "...laden trays." (p. 52) The entire west wall is a window showing city buildings, farms and the Cloudhelm snowpeak above the horizon. 

We learn some Hermetian speech patterns:

"'You jest, not?'" (p. 53)

Although human beings throughout Technic civilization speak Anglic, each planet has its distinctive turns of phrase which we learn to recognise.

A Wodenite, Captain Nadi of Supermetals, requests and receives audience with Grand Duchess Sandra. Like Coya Conyon Falkayn, who had appeared in Chapter I, Nadi was introduced in "Lodestar," which becomes the prequel to Mirkheim.

Back In Gray

The People Of The Wind, XVIII.

When Tabitha visits Philippe in the hospital, we know that the window is:

"...open to the blue and blossoms of springtime." (p. 644)

- so we have got away from the winter that we saw in Gray and on St. Li but where are we now? He sees from her complexion that she has not been in Gray so is that where they are? Yes. When she leaves the building, we learn that it has:

"...been hastily erected on the outskirts of Gray." (p. 646)

- and then we read our last description of the city:

"Where she stood, a hillside sloped downward, decked with smaragdine susin, starred with chasuble bush and Buddha's cup, to the strewn and begardened city, the large curve of uprising shoreline, the glitter on Falkayn Bay. Small cottony clouds sauntered before the wind, which murmured and smelled of livewell.

"She inhaled that coolness. After Equatoria, it was intoxicating. Or it ought to be. She felt curiously empty." (p. 647)

We have seen Scorpeluna in Equatoria. Gray should certainly be refreshing after that. Gray, seen by Arinnian in flight, at least twice through Daniel Holm's office window and now by Tabitha, has been described often enough to generate a real sense of place. 

Two Conversations On Avalon

The People Of The Wind.

Chapter II: Daniel Holm And Ferune In Ferune's Office

Twice while confiding with Ferune about his problems with his son, Christopher, Holm looks out the window of Ferune's office. We know from what we have already read that he is seeing, although maybe not noticing, the view of Gray and Falkayn Bay. On that Bay, a cargo vessel had been coming in from Brendan's Islands. Now Holm mentions the Shielding Islands where Christopher had hidden for a year. Where are these islands?

Chapter III describes the single large northern continent, three much smaller southern continents and the Oronesia archipelago and adds:

"All else consists of far smaller islands." (p. 464)

Chapter XI informs us that the Brendan's, Fiery and Shielding Islands are to the south and east of Oronesia. Western Coronan and Northern Oronesian defence cooperation has extended to the whole archipelago and it is hoped that it will next extend further to integrate these islands.

Chapter III: Christopher Holm And Tabitha Falkayn On St. Li

"'Hello, Christopher Holm,' she said in Anglic.

"'I come as Arinnian,' he answered in Planha. 'Luck fare beside you, Hrill.'" (p. 465)

Ythrians do not entreat deities but do wish for luck.

This dialogue should be filmed with Tabitha speaking English and Christopher speaking Planha with subtitles. Or maybe Tabitha should speak Anglic with subtitles?

She says that the Terran Empire has grown since Manuel the First. Thus, Manuel Argos from two instalments previously has become a historical figure like David Falkayn. The latter can also be referred to without being named. Later in Chapter III, Imperial Governor Ekrem Saracoglu summarizes Avalonian history, including the detail that the planet was colonised by:

"'...humans, a mixed lot under the leadership of an old trade pioneer...'" (p. 476)

Tabitha also mentions that the Cynthians voluntarily joined the Empire, thus increasing our already existing knowledge of that inhabited planet. History permeates everything that is said. 

Ferune's Office

The People Of The Wind, II.

Ferune of Mistwood Choth is First Marchwarden of the Lauran System. Since we are looking for scenes set on Avalon, we notice that Ferune's office in the Lauran Admiralty has a large window opening onto:

"...garden-scented breezes and a downhill view of Gray and the waters aglitter beyond." (p. 454)

This might not sound like very much. However, in Chapter I, we shared Arinnian's enjoyment of his aerial view of Gray, Falkayn Bay and the Hesperian Sea. Therefore, this view through Ferune's window now means quite a lot to any reader who appreciates such sensory details. 

There is one more such detail in this chapter. Daniel Holm, Second Marchwarden, visits his superior's office. They converse and:

"For a while, silence dwelt in the room. The yellow light of Laura cast leaf shadows on the floor. They quivered." (p. 456)

How many sf authors would have added such a detail? It immensely enhances our sense of these two beings discussing their war preparations and pausing for reflection. Far from existing in a vacuum, they live and breathe on Avalon in the Lauran System in the Domain of Ythri. We should continually remember this and their author ensures that we do.

Holm And Avalon

The People Of The Wind, Chapter II opens:

"Avalon rotates in 11 hours, 22 minutes, 12 seconds, on an axis tilted 21 degrees from the normal to the orbital plane. Gray, at about 43 degrees N., knows short nights always; in summer the darkness seems scarcely a blink." (p. 452)

The first sentence reads like the omniscient narrator imparting physical information directly to the reader. In the second sentence, the phrase, "...the darkness seems...," maybe reflects the collective experience of the Avalonians rather than just another fact about their environment. However, the third sentence, which completes the opening paragraph, reads:

"Daniel Holm wondered if that was a root of his weariness." (p. 452)

Thus, we learn that the entire paragraph, and indeed the entire ensuing chapter, are narrated from the point of view of Daniel Holm who had conversed with his son, Christopher, at the beginning of Chapter I. It is Holm that knows and reflects on Avalon's rotation period. The omniscient narrator, who is always present however marginally, has been pushed further into the background.

Holm goes on to reflect that his ancestors have lived on Avalon for centuries and indeed had:

"...arrived with Falkayn." (ibid.)

David Falkayn, whom we first saw as a Polesotechnic League apprentice, has become a historical figure. That is what happens in future histories. When James Blish's John Amalfi, preserved for centuries by antiagathics, revisits the planet, He, he learns to his embarrassment that the highest mountain on the planet has been named Mount Amalfi.

On Avalon, the city of Gray is on Falkayn Bay:

the Grand Survey ship, Olga, under Captain Gray discovered Avalon;

David Falkayn founded the colony on Avalon;

Falkayn's granddaughter named the planet.  

Avalon As A Real Place

The People Of The Wind.

Avalon seems like a real place because:

there is a wealth of environmental and geographical detail;

there is recognizable historical change and progression;

many individual characters live there.

Arinnian sets off to fly from Gray on Falkayn Bay to Lythran's eyrie in the Weathermother and passes over the countryside outside the town. We would like to accompany him on his long journey over Avalon. However, after a double space between paragraphs, Arinnian is suddenly found to be benched with young Ythrians in the dining hall at Lythran's and Blawsa's place. A narrative, unlike real life, can jump ahead in time! He is not seated close to his childhood friend, Eyath, daughter of his host and hostess, but she and he exchange a look and leave the dining hall together. They sit on a platform near the top of a copperwood. The different kinds of trees are described in detail. The human male and Ythrian female see the moon, Morgana, and the constellations, Wheel, Swords, Zirraukh and Ship.

A real place - that will suffice until human beings really do colonize extra-solar planets.

Arinnian Over Gray And Falkayn Bay

The People Of The Wind.

My favourite prose passage in this novel is the conclusion:

"Snowpeaks flamed. The sun stood up in a shout of joy.

"High is heaven and holy." (XIX, p. 662)

These two short paragraphs are comparable to the conclusions of A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows and "Star of the Sea," which I have also quoted.

My favourite scene in The People Of The Wind is in Chapter I when Arinnian, ascending from Gray on antigrav, enjoys the view. We have described this scene before and need not repeat every detail but they include:

the town of Gray sprawling among green trees and susin and colourful gardens on hills surrounding Falkayn Bay;

the Hesperian Sea, sun-flared silver, horizonward sapphire;

a cargo vessel from Brendan's Islands;

above, patrolling space warcraft (war is imminent);

on the inland horizon, the Andromedas/the Weathermother;

outside Gray, Ythrian ranches, human farms and native ecology.

We can see why the colonists settled the Hesperian Islands before tackling this Coronan continent. Beyond Hesperia and over the horizon is Oronesia. We will learn more about that archipelago and also about Brendan's and other islands later in this novel.

It is human beings that build cities, only two on Avalon: Gray and Centauri. But some Ythrians live in highrises in Gray. Thus have the two species come to intermingle. Christopher Holm/Arinnian has joined Highsky Choth which is based in the Weathermother but has agreed with his parents that he will remain in Gray to complete his mathematical studies. Choths have been accepting human members for the past century. Thus, Avalonian history has progressed a long way from "Rescue on Avalon."

Corona

Peter and Olga Berg were in a base on the southern shore of Corona. A strong current ran east from a great gulf and struck an archipelago which would be the Oronesia. Beyond Oronesia is the Hesperian archipelago and, beyond that, around the curve of the planet, the western coast of Corona. Is that "great gulf" the Gulf of Centaurs where the second Avalonian city, Centauri, will be built? Jack Birnam's family were sea ranchers dwelling on the west coast of Corona. Did they live on or near Falkayn Bay where the first city, Gray, would later be built?

We see Corona in three periods: when it is being explored, when it is being settled and when it has long been settled. There is also an intermediate period when the Hesperian Islands have been settled and a research and development team is planning the colonization of Corona so that there will then be some exploratory expeditions to the continent.

Within the Technic History, there is an Avalonian history.

On Avalon

What is evident on rereading Poul Anderson's The People of the Wind, I, is the realization of the planet Avalon as a physical environment. The city of Gray, named after the captain of the Grand Sutvey ship, Olga, is on Falkayn Bay, named after David Falkayn. Christopher Holm/Arinnian, flying straight up from Gray by antigravity belt, sees Bay, city, countryside, other fliers of different species and sea and air vehicles. Three ecologies merge: imported Terran and Ythrian and native Avalonian. Anderson describes ranches, pastures, animals and trees.

When Arinnian has reached his destination, Lythran'a aerie on Mount Fairview in the Andromedas/the Weathermother, the description becomes more detailed:

Ythrian trees

broadbark

copperwood

lightningrod

jewelleaf

native flowers

janie

livewell

trefoil

Buddha's cup

harp vine singing in the breeze

Constellations, Wheel, Sword, Zirraukh and Ship, are visible and Arinnian reflects on other regions of Avalon:

Plains of Long Reach

arctic marshes

scorching New Gaiilan savannah

the many islands that are most of the land

A well conceived almost real place.

In Starfall, Hermes

A Stone In Heaven, II.

Starfall on Hermes seems like a real place, especially since this brief passage reinforces what we have already read about David Falkayn's home planet in Mirkheim:

Williams Field

Daybreak Bay

the Runeberg mansion

Pilgrim Hill

the Palomino River

fragrant daleflower and roses

a flying, trilling tilirra

blinking glowflies

Riverside Common

millionleaf trees

rainroof trees

spires

domes

towers

Antares above the Auroral Ocean

As with two other colonized terrestroid planets, Aeneas and Avalon, we learn the names of local flora and fauna and accept that a population lives there. (The Avalonian ecology combines local organisms with those imported from Ythri and Terra.)

The Weathermother II

The People Of The Wind, I.

In the Weathermother:

Jack Birnam hiked and rescued an Ythrian;

Hloch will write The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

 

Now, in The People Of The Wind, Arinnian sets out to fly by gravbelt from Gray on Falkayn Bay to the highest peaks on the Coronan continent which men call the Andromedas although Arinnian translates the Planha name into Anglic as "Weathermother." (We read it in Old Anglic/English.)

Arinnian/Christopher Holm lives in Gray but is a member of Stormgate Choth which had settled the Weathermother in Birnam's time. He, Arinnian, flies there to stay overnight at Lythran's aerie before flying with the rest of that household to the regional Khruath.

If I lived on Avalon, then I would want to attend Khruaths, not to vote for the Parliament of Man. Therefore, I would have to join a choth. However, I would not want to accept the concept of "deathpride" which can lead to duels and honorable suicides. So I would suggest the formation of a choth that combined (what we would regard as) the best aspects of Ythrian and human traditions. Choths are variable enough for this to be feasible.

In A Wood On Hermes

Mirkheim, XV.

Ornithoids and buzzbugs, the latter dancing like dustmotes in Maian sunbeams, fly between trees that are mainly stonebark and rainroof, my point being that, if this scene were to be filmed in a Terrestrial forest, then CGI would be necessary to simulate the Hermetian environment. Evading pursuit, Falkayn uses old skills to part resistant shrubs and withes with economical arm and shin movements, Adzel moves with longer strides but cautiously to avoid leaving a trail and Chee Lan leaps between branches. Her home planet, Cynthia, is organized into treetop trade routes, not nation-states. On Hermes, all three beings, including the Hermetian Falkayn, need supplemental rations because native life lacks some vitamins and trace minerals. The forest is on the lower slopes of the Thunderheads. Across the mountain on its eastern side are the Apollo Valley, the Arcadian Hills, the coastal plain, Starfall and the Auroral Ocean. In Chapter II, we read an account of Maia rising out of Daybreak Bay and shining up the Palomino River into Starfall so we have come to feel very familiar with Hermes.

Some Sights In Technic Civilization

"...a summer sky over the Kazan...," here

the view from the Zamok, here 

the Obala 

Mount Anrovil in the Weathermother, here

the Oronesian archipelago

the city of Centauri

Falkayn Bay 

Daybreak Bay

the High Sierra 

Archopolis 

the Flone Valley

Nova Roma

I was struck by Kossara's reference to the blue of a summer sky over the Kazan but, of course, I have posted about that before as also about various other scenes in Poul Anderson's Technic History.