I have mentioned objective correlatives (scroll down) twice before. Here is a third. Dwyr the Hook advises Runei to keep a special watch on Abrams and Runei will consider it. After dismissing Dwyr, Runei ponders his next move in the on-going chess game between him and Abrams and smiles. The chess game is an objective correlative for the inter-imperial conflict.
Flandry's Testament, as I call it, refers to the game of empire or life with pieces going back into the box standing for death.
On Starkad, land-dwelling Tigeries and sea-dwelling Seatrolls are not at war but are natural enemies. Merseian equipment and advice enables the Seatrolls to drive back the landfolk. Terra retaliates by helping the Tigeries in order to prevent Starkad from becoming a unified Merseian client state. Although the Starkadians have no concept of treaties between sovereign powers, Terrans occupy Mount Narpa by treaty with the Ujankan Tigeries while Merseians have an underwater base in the Kimraig Sea by treaty with the sea-dwellers. The Covenant of Alfzar between Terra and Merseia obliges both powers to help other civilized beings on request. Thus, Terrans and Merseians killing each other on Starkad are not waging inter-imperial war but merely assisting Starkadians.
The Merseians build a primitive submarine base, operable by seafolk, that will wreck local landfolk commerce but the Terrans' fiendishly good Intelligence chief somehow learns of the base and the landfolk are given chemical bombs and told where to drop them, thus killing several Merseian technicians. The ship commanded by Brechdan's son, Elwych the Swift, which is nearby at Betelgeuse, must send some replacement engineers.
All very altruistic of the Merseians, of course...
first, the Captain Flandry series, eventually filling two collections and one novel;
next, the Young Flandry Trilogy, written as a prequel, covering Flandry's early career as ensign, lieutenant and commander (that last was the rank that James Bond held throughout his series);
last, two novels featuring Admiral Flandry.
The Captain Flandry series begins with a short story which in turn, expectably, begins with Flandry himself:
Near the beginning of this first Dominic Flandry novel, Brechdan Ironrede, Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council, enunciates:
"'...the highest end of all - absolute freedom for our race, to make of the galaxy what they will.'" (p. 27)
However, very near the end of the last novel to feature Flandry, a later Protector begins to lose hope because, despite its continuing decline, the Terran Empire has inflicted a series of demoralizing defeats on the Merseian Roidhunate.
Similarly, in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, although Britain has declined, even "thrown away" its Empire, Bond repeatedly defeats his Russian adversaries. Although four later volumes focus instead on the independent threats of SPECTRE and Blofeld, in the posthumously published novel, Bond, KGB-controlled, fails to kill M, then, debrainwashed, does kill Hendriks of the KGB and Scaramanga, "The Man With The Golden Gun."
In both instances, these major defeats maybe contribute to the eventual collapse of the enemy power.
Larger objects are less numerous. Thus, there is about one hydrogen atom per cubic centimeter throughout the galaxy whereas there are very few large O-type stars.
"There are about ten times as many M-type red dwarfs as there are G-type stars like Korych or Sol." (p. 25)
A one-gram pebble is a thousand times more likely than a one-kilogram rock to hit a spaceship.
"...sunless planets are more common than suns." (ibid.)
Such "rogue planets" play big roles in "A Sun Invisible," Satan's World and Ensign Flandry, three installments of Poul Anderson's Technic History.
See:
Brechdan is at Castle Dhangodhan so let's check previous blog coverage:
Dhangodhan is where we first see Brechdan (see Introducing The Villain);
it is near Ardaig (see Modernization);
Merseian Customs are observed there;
there is a splendid view from the Castle terrace (see Brechdan At Dhangodhan);
Brechdan invites Terrans to Dhangodhan (see Holiday On Merseia);
Brechdan at Dhangodhan is echoed many years later by Magnusson in Aurea (see Brechdan Ironrede And Olaf Magnusson);
the only other blog reference to Dhangodhan that I can find is here.
On my first blog search, I could not find the comprehensive "Brechdan At Dhangodhan," although I knew that it was there, because I had miss-spelt "Dhangodhan." I have had to correct this and other posts. In fact, if you search the blog for possible miss-spellings of this Eriau place name, then you might find some that I have missed. Khraich!
"The sun Korych had now cleared the eastern heights and cast dazzling spears over the world. Brechdan saluted it, as was his hereditary right." (p. 22)
His right? His hereditary right? Brechdan Ironrede is the Hand of the Vach Ynvory and has just touched his brow to acknowledge a sentry who slapped his boots with his tail and a gardener who folded his arms and bent his head. They are not slaves but clients who must be accorded their dignity.
But (I argue) the sun shines on everyone. Every conscious being has a right to salute it as I do every morning, in the words of the Rig Veda:
Abrams captures a Merseian cyborg spy and prevents him from suiciding:
"The hand fumbled at the chest. To turn off the heart? Abrams kicked that hand aside and planted a foot on it. 'Easy, friend,' he said." (p. 21)
With that single word, "friend," Abrams begins a process of negotiation that will transform this enemy spy into an extremely effective double agent. We know of many fictional characters who would merely have snarled at the prisoner and done him further physical damage while restraining him or even have killed him themselves in the first place. Abrams, fully realistic about the hostile intentions of the Roudhunate, is also fully open to the possibility of friendship with an individual Merseian when any such opportunity presents itself.
Apart from his Big Four - van Rijn, Falkayn, Flandry and Everard - Poul Anderson created several major characters, including Anson Guthrie and Rupert of the Rhine. See also Is Rupert Right? Although Rupert appears in only a single novel, A Midsummer Tempest, that novel is the culmination of a trilogy and Rupert is also mentioned in the second of the two Old Phoenix short stories.
It is always interesting to compare how another author presents the same historical figure:
