David And Coya At The Winged Cross

Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise of the Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 1-291 AT Prologue, Y minus 8, pp. 11-18.

This Prologue is divided into nine sections, beginning with Y minus 500,000 and ending with Y minus 1. Y is:

"...the year which God, or destiny, or chance had ordained." (p. 30)

Y minus 8, the only section set on Earth, begins when Chicago Integrate, viewed by David and Coya Falkayn through the activated transparency in Nicholas van Rijn's penthouse on the roof of the Winged Cross, is described as "...a godland of..." (p. 11):

spires

towers

mulitcoloured walls

crystalline vitryl

gracefully curving trafficways

flickering emblems

stretches of trees and green

glitttering movement in the sky, on the lake and on the ground

We now learn first that David and Coya have married and secondly that Coya has visited the Winged Cross since infancy whereas David, of course, has mostly lived off Earth. Coya is about to join van Rijn's trade pioneer crew led by David although her time with the crew is one of the great Untold Series of the Technic History.

Mistland And Godland

(Another illustration by Dan Adkins.)

Poul Anderson, Shield, X.

"...Koskinen glimpsed the rising sun. In that light megalopolis became a romantic, tower-pierced mist-land, where the two rivers and Long Island Sound lay like molten silver. There were not many other cars to be seen. The taxi fled eastward, faster than he wished. Before long the city gave way to garden-scape rolling back from wide beaches, only an occasional Center breaking its serenity." (p. 78)

 This passage, quoted out of context, does not make clear that "cars" means "aircars" and that the taxi carrying Koskinen is such a vehicle. Thus, he views the city from above. (In the attached image, he is falling at an earlier point in the narrative.) That "cars" fly is almost assumed in some sf although, of course, it is always also stated.

The mist-land recalls a previously noted "godland."

Elven Towers

Arriving by cab on the roof of the Winged Cross, Emil Dalmady sees and experiences:

a fragrant garden;
"...a warm deep-blue summer's dusk..." (The Van Rijn Method, p. 519);
the sounds of Chicago Integrate like the murmur of a distant ocean;
"...an elven forest..." (ibid.) of towers and skyways;
flitting aircars;
"...a fantastic galaxy of many-colored lights...," (ibid.) stretching beyond sight;
the bulk of van Rijn's penthouse ahead of him.

See "A Godland."

Chicago Integrate is elven towers in a godland and Ys, where there are Elven Gardens, is a fitting dwelling for elves or Gods. We can trace the past and future history of cities through Poul Anderson's works and across the timelines, e.g.,:

Ys;
Quimper;
York;
New York;
the Integrates;
Archopolis;
a darkening city in a further future here.

Isaac Asimov has large enclosed Cities on a future Earth and the planetary city of Trantor near the galactic center. Cities become subterranean "Shelters" in James Blish's A Case Of Conscience and fly into space in his Cities In Flight. Damon Knight edited Cities Of Wonder. There is much to be learned about cities.

The View From The Winged Cross

We vicariously enjoy both the luxury of Nicholas van Rijn's skyscraper penthouse and the dangers of the planet Cain when two younger guests recount their adventures on that planet to their employer.

When David and Coya Falkayn look through the activated transparency in one wall of the penthouse (see "A Godland," here), there is as much traffic in the sky and on the lake as on the ground. That alone would make looking at Chicago Integrate a different experience. Above an early twenty first century city, we see a few aircraft but not lines of traffic-controlled aircars.

The view is described as comparatively fresh to David because he has spent most of his life off Earth. It would be more accurate to say that he has hardly ever been on Earth. He was born and grew up on Hermes and has worked in space. At the beginning of Satan's World, he is in the Solar System but on Luna, not on Earth.

The Falkayns will live on Earth when they start a family but later will lead the colonization of Avalon - and, at this stage, all of that is still in their future. Meanwhile, they understandably never tire of the spectacle from the Winged Cross.

Previous Posts On Mirkheim

I am rereading "Lodestar" and might shortly reread (parts of) Mirkheim. However, I find a wealth of material on this novel already on the blog. See:

search result for "Y minus 500,000" here;
Issues In Mirkheim
Something Is Rotten In Technic Culture?
Disagreeing A Little With Van Rijn
Not A Lot Going On
Perspectives
Disagreeing A Little With Van Rijn II
The Divided League
Old And New In Mirkheim
Satan And Mirkheim
The Surface Of Mirkheim
Quotes From Mirkheim
"Martin Schuster"
The Falkayn Domain
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
Between Volumes
Hydrogen And Helium
A Mystery Solved?
After Mirkheim
Clues
Planets In Mirkheim
Livewell On Delfinburg
Colourful Ambiguous Symbolism
The Richest Volume
Ages
More On "Lodestar" And Mirkheim
"Bargaining On This Basement"
The War Against The Seven In Space
Hopewell
Military Intelligence
Time Past And The Threshold Of The Future
Supermetals
Mirkheim, Chapter XXI
The Council Of Hiawatha
Falkayn Remembers...
Some Important Organizations
Nicholas van Rijn, Star of Solar Spice
Mirkheim, Chapter I
How To Film Mirkheim?
In The Saturn Room Of The Hotel Universe, Lunograd
"A Godland"
The Council Of Hiawatha: Earlier Posts
Heavier Elements
Conditions On Earth
A Little Goes A long Way
A Few More Details About Hermes
Turning Points
Benoni Strang's Grievances
On The Sunda Strait
God's Gifts
Nicholas Van Rijn, Philosopher?
From History To Legend
War And Peace
Starfall
Starfall On Hermes
Dinner At The Winged Cross And In An Airship
Wardroom
Windy Rim 

I followed a link and lost the thread that I was following. As ever, this list is longer than I had expected. I will not repeat all of this information but there is usually more to post, nevertheless.

(Everything after "How To Film Mirkheim?" is an Addendum.)

Gods And Elves

Chicago Integrate is described as "a godland" here and as "an elven forest" here. Gratillonius thinks that Ys should be inhabited by elves or Gods here.

Gods and elves are mythical in Poul Anderson's Technic History but real in his fantasies. However, Nicholas van Rijn from the Technic History visits the inter-univesal inn, the Old Phoenix, where he can meet characters from the fantasies. 

"A Godland"

(Chicago at night.)

"He could scarcely believe that human beings dwelt yonder, not elves or Gods." (p. 104)
-copied from here.

"Seen from an activated transparency in Nicholas van Rijn's penthouse atop the Winged Cross, Chicago Integrate was a godland..." (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 11)

We see the Winged Cross penthouse three times.

The "godland" comprises:

spires;
towers;
multicolored walls;
crystalline vitryl;
gracefully curving trafficways;
flickering emblems;
trees;
lawns;
glittering movement in the sky and on the lake as well as on the ground.

Chicago Integrate is another Great City.

In the second sentence, we are told that the Falkayns never tire of the view. The next two sentences confirm that the Falkayns are David and Coya. Coya, van Rijn's granddaughter, first appeared in the previous story, "Lodestar," and has married David since. She is about to join the trader team but there are no stories set in the period when she is a member. The following installment, Mirkheim, moves the action to a considerably later stage of the characters' lives and careers and concludes this sub-series of the Technic History.

Great Cities

York
London
Londinium
Paris
Berlin
New York
Seattle
San Francisco
Tyre
Pasargadae
Amsterdam
Bactra
Ys
Archopolis
Ardaig
Delhi
Lancaster
Preston 
Birmingham
Lichfield
Liverpool 
Baghdad
Uppsala
Nordyke
The Nine Cities
Gray and Centauri
Centauri (and here)
Nova Roma
Starfall (and here)
Pelogard 
Catawrayannis
Portolondon
Tridaig
Stockholm
Inga 
Rome
Trantor
Babylon (and here)
Roumek
Alternative Cities
"A Godland" - Chicago Integrate
Constantinople
Venice
Stellamont 
Northampton
Niyorek
Dirzh
Syrtis  

And two societies that do not have cities:

Ythrians
Freehold Outbackers