Aycharaych And Tachwyr

Dominic Flandry has two opposite numbers. Flandry and Tachwyr rise through the ranks of their respective services and Aycharaych is the spearhead of Merseian Intelligence. Aycharaych first appeared in the original magazine-published Captain Flandry series whereas Tachwyr was added in the later-written novels set before or after those stories. Thus, Flandry meets Tachwyr when he is an ensign and again when he is a lieutenant. Still a captain, he meets both Tachwyr and Aycharaych on Talwin in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. Finally, in The Game Of Empire, when Flandry is a Fleet Admiral and Tachwyr is not only the Hand of his Vach but also the Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council, both characters appear although without meeting and Tachwyr regrets the loss to his side of Aycharaych, still mistakenly believing that the latter was loyal to the Roidhunate!

I think that everyone remembers Aycharaych as Flandry's Moriarty or Blofeld but don't forget Tachwyr.

Tachwyr

"...Tachwyr the Dark, whose rank of mei answered somewhat to lieutenant j.g...."

-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 105.

"'Lieutenant Flandry.'

"'Mei Tachwyr.'

"They stopped and stared, and both mouths fell open."

-Poul Anderson, A Circus Of Hells IN Young Flandry, pp. 193-365 AT CHAPTER ONE, p. 200.

Flandry makes a formal Eriau salutation:

"'Greetings and good fortune to you, Tachwyr of the Vach Rueth.'

"'And...may you be in health and strength, Dominic Flandry...of Terra,' the Merseian replied." (ibid.)

(Technic History equivalents of "Live long and prosper...")

"Captain Dominic Flandry and his opposite number, Qanryf Tachwyr the Dark..."

-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, March 2012), pp. 339-606 AT IX, p. 454.

"Tachwyr the Dark, Hand of the Vach Dathyr..."

-Poul Anderson, The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER SIX, p. 264.

...has become Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council.

(Flandry got Tachwyr's Vach wrong on Irumclaw.)

The Council members think that:

"...this gaunt and aging male in a plain black robe, had brought them to triumph." (p. 265)

He had not.

Tachwyr's rise from mei to Hand and Protector parallels Flandry's rise from Ensign to Fleet Admiral and informal Imperial advisor. We travel a long way with both characters.

A Fictional Biography

Future histories include fictional biographies. In Poul Anderson's Technic History:

David Falkayn;

Dominic Flandry;

Tachwyr the Dark. (Scroll down.)

Tachwyr's first appearance is undistinguished. Dominic Flandry is drinking with young males on Merseia. Yqan (Chief Petty Officer) Lannawar Belgis:

"...sat relaxed with the Terran and Tachwyr the Dark, whose rank of mei answered somewhat to lieutenant j.g."

-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 105.

(Although Anderson seems to make Merseian ranks almost exactly parallel to familiar human naval ranks, he then imagines different relationships between the ranks: for Terrans, mutual aloofness; for Merseians, an interplay between formality and ease.)

 

Tachwyr begins his career as Flandry's opponent when he reins in Belgis's garrulousness. Flandry thinks that he has heard something important but does not know what. We have no way of knowing how important Tachwyr is destined to become.

 

We see two more meetings between Flandry and Tachwyr but the latter's most impressive appearance comes at the end of the series. The members of the Roidhun's Grand Council admire their Protector because:

"He, Tachwyr the Dark, himself a commander of space squadrons until he succeeded to the Handship of the Dathyrs and ultimately got the lordship of Merseia - he, this gaunt and aging male in a plain black robe, had brought them to triumph."

-The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER SIX, p. 265.

He had not but they thought he had. When they have, after all, been defeated, Tachwyr must draw the moral for the Merseians of the Roidunate:

"'By adversity, the God tempers the steel of the Race. Let us get on with our quest.'"

-CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO, p. 447.

What we chiefly appreciate here is the progression from the young mei to the gaunt and aging male.

Opposite Numbers

A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, IX, pp. 453-465, is divided into two sections by a double space on p. 458. In the first section, Dominic Flandry converses with Tachwyr the Dark; in the second, with Aycharaych. Tachwyr is Flandry's opposite number to the extent that he is a Merseian who rises through the ranks in parallel with Flandry whereas Aycharaych is Flandry's opposite number to the extent that he spearheads Merseian Intelligence.

Tachwyr

Ensign Flandry meets Mei (approximately, lieutenant j.g.) Tachwyr on Merseia in Ensign Flandry. Lieutenant Flandry meets Mei Tachwyr on Irumclaw in A Circus Of Hells. We do not see Tachwyr again until the meeting on Talwin in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows when Flandry is a Captain and Tachwyr is a Qanryf. However, we are told that Flandry:

"...knew him from encounters both adversary and half friendly since they were fledglings in their services..." (p. 456)

- back in Ensign Flandry.

Tachwyr appears only once more, in The Game Of Empire, where he has become the Hand of his Vach and presides over the Grand Council. He does not meet Fleet Admiral Flandry but does remember vanished Aycharaych.

To be continued.

Know Your Enemy II

Poul Anderson wrote that The Game Of Empire "...is a sort of coda to the biography of Dominic Flandry..." (Flandry's Legacy, New York, 2012, p. 191). Thus, two novels, Ensign Flandry and The Game Of Empire, bookend the Flandry series just as two short stories, "The Saturn Game" and "Starfog," bookend the Technic History as a whole.

Two characters are introduced in Ensign Flandry and last seen in The Game Of Empire, not only Dominic Flandry of Terra but also Tachwyr the Dark of Merseia.

In Ensign Flandry, Flandry is an ensign and Tachwyr is a mei, roughly equivalent to lieutenant, j.g. In The Game Of Empire, Flandry is a Fleet Admiral and informal Imperial adviser while Tachwyr is Hand of his Vach and Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council.

Thirteen works of different lengths are set between the Flandry bookends. Flandry appears in eleven of these and Tachwyr in two of the eleven. In A Circus Of Hells, Flandry is a lieutenant, j.g., and Tachwyr is still a mei. In A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, Flandry is a captain, knighted, and Tachwyr, described as Flandry's "...opposite number..." is a qanryf (A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, London, 1978, p. 98).

Thus, although Tachwyr appears only four times and might be overlooked, his career from start to finish closely parallels Flandry's.

Inconsistencies

"Perfect consistency is possible only to God himself, and a close study of scripture will show that he doesn't always make it." (1)

That was Poul Anderson's standard response to readers who spotted inconsistencies in his future history. A lot of inconsistencies in fiction can be ironed out if it is recognized that most fiction, even when the narration is in the third person, is narrated from the point of view of a fictitious character who may be mistaken. Merseians are mammals but with more traces of reptilian ancestry than Terrans. Or they are warm-blooded giving live birth but are not mammals, "...no kind of animal that Terra had ever brought forth." (2) That last remark is obviously correct. The statement that they are mammals is made from Flandry's point of view. The statement that they are not is made from another character's. Thus, the statements express different characters' understandings, not objective facts.

In A Circus Of Hells, Flandry greets Tachwyr the Dark of Merseia as a member of the Vach Rueth whereas The Game Of Empire presents Tachwyr as the Hand of the Vach Dathyr. We are to understand that Tachwyr has risen to the Handship of his Vach between novels but the Vach should not have changed. But, of course, Flandry could have been mistaken. This would be out of character but is at least possible and A Circus Of Hells does show him making youthful mistakes. Flustered at meeting his former acquaintance unexpectedly in the formal setting of a Naval reception, Flandry could have stumbled and misremembered Tachwyr's Vach, like introducing someone as Northern Irish when we should have known that he was Scottish. Alternatively, there is a Story To Be Told about why, against immemorial Merseian custom, Tachwyr did for some reason change his Vach. Again, changes to immemorial custom are at least possible. The only logical impossibility here is Tachwyr both being in Vach Rueth and not being in Vach Rueth at the same time.

In "Honorable Enemies," Flandry says that Chereionites have full citizenship in the Merseian Empire whereas everything else that we know about Merseians entails that they either subordinate or exterminate other races:

"... the highest end of all...absolute freedom for our race to make of the galaxy what they will." (3)

That would seem to be incompatible with granting members of other races equal citizenship. However, the Chereionites are a very special case and, again, Flandry's information could be incorrect.

By referring to scripture, Anderson unintentionally invited comparison between his History of Technic Civilization and the Bible so how does Anderson's series measure up to this comparison? The Bible, like the Technic History, is a history of a people. Its books cover successive generations who lived in different but historically connected periods. Some books present alternative versions of events. Individual stories in Anderson's The Earth Book Of Stormgate and, in a separate volume, his account of the founding of the Terran Empire are presented as possibly fictionalized narratives of events that did occur. Further, some of Anderson's characters seek theological significance in the course of events. Thus, I think that the comparison with the Bible is valid. 

(1) Poul Anderson, "Concerning Future Histories" IN Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America, Vol 14, No 3, whole no 71, Fall 1979, pp. 7-14 AT p. 13.
(2) Poul Anderson, A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, London, 1975, p. 29.
(3) Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry, London, 1976, p. 31. 

Tachwyr And Djana

Poul Anderson, A Circus of Hells IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 193-365, CHAPTER ONE. 

Of the characters introduced in Ensign Flandry, apart from Flandry himself, the first to reappear, on the opening page of A Circus of Hells, is Tachwyr the Dark, Flandry's opposite number among the Merseians. Tachwyr is of the Vach Rueth according to Flandry in A Circus of Hells but, later, has become Hand of the Vach Dathyr according to the omniscient narrator of The Game of Empire. Merseians do not change their Vach. It is uncharacteristic of Flandry to get such a detail wrong but it is possible, especially while he is still "Young Flandry," and no character can disagree with an omniscient narrator. Although we understand from A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows that Flandry and Tachwyr meet several times during their careers, Tachwyr appears only four times in the series and on the fourth occasion, in The Game of Empire, he has become both the Hand of his Vach and the Protector of the Grand Council and therefore remains on Merseia where he has no contact with Flandry. We see them meet only three times.

A character who appears only in A Circus of Hells is the heroine of that novel, Djana. However, Djana's psychic power prevents Flandry from settling down either with Kathryn McCormac in The Rebel Worlds or with Kossara Vymezal in A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows and therefore explains why he eventually forms a liaison with Miriam Abrams in A Stone in Heaven and has married her by the time of The Game of Empire. Young Flandry strongly influences the rest of the series.

Talwin, Tachwyr and Telepathy

The Day Of Their Return is not a Flandry novel but it does refer to and quote from Flandry. More than this, it summarizes an incident that could have been presented as a Flandry short story. As part of an Intelligence report, we read that, while at the joint Terran-Merseian scientific base on Talwin, which he had earlier helped to found, Flandry corrupted a Merseian and started to learn about the mysterious planet Chereion. Thus, this incident is an important link in the narratives of Flandry's dealings with Talwin and with Merseians and with Aycharaych, the Chereionite telepath.

In the later novel, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry, again on Talwin, has important conversations first with Qanryf Tachwyr the Dark, then with Aycharaych. These beings are Flandry's opposite numbers in their respective species. When Flandry was an Ensign visiting Merseia, he was invited to tour the planet with young Merseians whose rank corresponded roughly to his. These included Tachwyr whose rank of mei answered roughly to lieutenant. 

Decades later, in The Game Of Empire, when Flandry is an Admiral and occasional Imperial adviser, Tachwyr, now Hand of the Vach Dathyr, has replaced Brechdan Ironrede as the Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council, i.e., as prime minister of unified Merseia. Both have come as far as they can in their respective services. The conversation on Talwin comes long after the days of their shared youth but before their ultimate promotions.

An anomaly emerges here because, when, in the novel A Circus Of Hells, Flandry met Tachwyr for a second time on the planet Irumclaw, he then greeted him as a member of the Vach Rueth. Merseians do not change their Vachs. However, Anderson had a standard reply to inconsistency-spotters which I have quoted elsewhere in these articles.

The Talwinian conversation with Aycharaych defines both characters. But, further than this, Aycharaych comments on humanity. He asks whether the imminence of death:

"...may be the root of your greatness as a race...Could a St. Matthew Passion have welled from an immortal Bach?" (1)

Surely all races, including Chereionites, are mortal? But perhaps the Chereionites, who are also the legendary Ancients, Forerunners etc, live longer and have a different attitude to death? Elsewhere, Aycharaych called death a "...completion." (2)

(1) Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, London, 1978, p. 102.
(2) Poul Anderson, We Claim These Stars!, New York, 1959, p. 15.

Information Lag And Inference

The Game of Empire, CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

Some people do not understand about information lag. They assume that, if an important event has occurred, then everyone simultaneously knows that, why, how etc it has occurred. The event is like a visible object that everyone perceives and from the same angle. No inference or interpretation, let alone ignorance, is involved.

Tachwyr knows that the Terrans have learned that Magnusson was a Merseian agent. He does not know how the Terrans have learned this. Tachwyr infers that, as soon as the news broke, Magnusson's crew mutinied and killed him quickly. He infers that Magnusson's partisans are deserting his cause and that, if they do not surrender immediately, this is only because they are holding out for pardons. Tachwyr's colleagues agree with the inferences while recognizing that they are inferences. 

Other possibilities include Magnusson's arrest, trial, conviction and execution or, alternatively, his escape to Merseia where, according to Tachwyr, he would wind up:

"'...dragging out a useless existence as a pensioner...'" (p. 446)

He would not. Or, at least, he would if he himself saw it that way. As long as a self-conscious being is alive, then he is capable of contemplating and transcending his own past actions. Prisoners make religious conversions maybe because, deprived of everything else, they latch onto an ultimate escapism but it does not have to be that way. As long as they are alive and aware, their existence is not useless unless they think that it is.

Details: Introduction And Convergence

I think that Poul Anderson's Technic History is unique among future history series in that characters and other details introduced gradually converge eventually. In the following summary, numbers represent instalments, e.g., 1 = "The Saturn Game." The details listed are significant later if not also at the time. 

1. A character who was raised in the Jerusalem Catholic Church.

2. Ythrians as a species but not yet as individuals.

3. An Ythrian family of the New Faith interacting with Aenean human beings on the planet that will be Avalon.

4. Nicholas van Rijn, the Polesotechnic League and Earth in the Solar Commonwealth.

5. The Wodenite Adzel and domestic life on Earth in the Commonwealth.

6. The Hermetian David Falkayn on Ivanhoe.

7. Falkayn working for van Rijn's company although he has not yet met van Rijn.

8. Later events on Ivanhoe.

9. Van Rijn on Diomedes with the future Duchess of Hermes.

10. An Altaian describes his encounter with Baburites to van Rijn.

11. The captain of van Rijn's yacht is from Ramanujan.

12. Van Rijn with Joyce Davisson from Esperance.

13. Falkayn, Adzel and Chee Lan are van Rijn's first trade pioneer crew/trader team. Van Rijn cameos.

14. The trader team on Merseia. No mention of van Rijn.

15. Van Rijn back on Earth.

16. The trader team and van Rijn. A Ferran.

17. Other characters, one of whom quotes van Rijn.

It continues like that. There are twenty-six more instalments.

Addendum:

It is hard to stop thinking about this but also difficult to remember every detail that should be included in a brief summary.

18. Van Rijn, Coya Conyon and the trader team at Mirkheim.

19. Grand finale for the League characters, Mirkheim and the Baburites. Major events on Hermes.

20. Falkyan-led colonization of islands on Avalon.

21. Later colonization of a continent on Avalon. Ivar Holm.

22. References back to the Commonwealth and forward to the Terran Empire.

23. The Terran Empire.

24. The Terran-Ythrian War and its effects on Avalon where Tabitha Falkayn marries Christopher Holm, son of Daniel.

25. Dominic Flandry, defending the Empire from Merseia, meets Max Abrams and John Ridenour on Starkad and Brechdan Ironrede and Tachwyr on Merseia - and fathers a son although we do not know that yet. Some Starkadians will be evacuated.

26. Flandry meets Tachwyr again on Irumclaw.

27. Flandry defeats the Aenean Rebellion and expels rebels. A Ferran.

28. Ridenour on Freehold.

29. Chunderban Desai from Ramanujan and Aycharaych of Chereion are on Aeneas in the aftermath of the Rebellion.

30. Flandry on Scotha.

31. Flandry meets Aycharaych.

32-34. Flandry elsewhere.

35. Flandry saves Vixen and captures Aycharaych but loses him in a prisoner exchange. Chives.

36. A brief mission for Flandry and Chives.

37. Flandry meets Tachwyr and Aycharaych again, loses his son and bombards Chereion.

38. Flandry joins up with Max Abrams' daughter.

39. Flandry's daughter teams up with the son of a Starkadian evacuee and with a Wodenite Jerusalem Catholic priest who studies Chereionite inscriptions. This new team thwarts a Merseian plot that had originated with Brechdan and Ironrede, thus demoralizing Tachwyr.

40. The Empire has fallen.

41-42. Interstellar civilization is restored.

43. A New Vixenite contacts descendants of Aenean exiles.

This does not cover all the connections.

Brechdan And Tachwyr

Having become familiar with the friendly Merseians on Dennitza, it seems a shame to return to the hostiles on their home planet. However, the Roidhun reigns yet. The feeling of menace is only slightly tempered by the fact that the viewpoint character is Tachwyr the Dark whom we have seen three times in conversation with Dominic Flandry. 

CHAPTER SIX of The Game of Empire mirrors CHAPTER THREE of Ensign Flandry.

"Brechdan Ironrede, the Hand of the Vach Ynvory, walked forth on a terrace of Castle Dhanghodan."

-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER THREE, p. 22.

"Banners snapped in the wind..." (ibid.)

"...mists and shadows...still cloaked the valley. Thus he could not see the farms and villages which Dhanghodan dominated: nothing but the peaks on the other side. Those climbed until their green flanks gave way to crags and cliffs of granite, to snowfields and the far blink of glaciers. The sun Korych had now cleared the eastern heights..." (ibid.)

"High overhead wheeled a fangryf, hunting, and the light burned gold of her feathers." (ibid.)

"...Brechdan presided over the Grand Council." (p. 23)

"Tachwyr the Dark, Hand of the Vach Dathyr, stood silent..."

-Poul Anderson, The Game of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT CHAPTER SIX, p. 264.

Tachwyr addresses:

"...the Grand Council over which he presided..." (ibid.)

- from:

"...a towertop of his castle." (ibid.)

- where:

"...ancient battle banners snapped above him in the wind. The sun Korych cast brilliance on forested mountainside, broad fields and clustered dwellings in the valley beneath, snowpeaks beyond." (ibid.)

"A fangryf winged on high, hunting." (ibid.)

The fangryfs represent the Merseians.

A Circus Of Hells, CHAPTER ONE

 

A Circus Of Hells, CHAPTER ONE.

What is of note in this chapter:

Flandry is on Irumclaw which was mentioned in the previous volume;

his earlier electrocram in Eriau is practically applicable because he alone can interpret when the Merseians visit;

chairs are removed from the mess hall in deference to the guests - of course, Merseians squat on their tails;

Flandry meets Tachwyr for the second of three times in the series although it is more often than that in their off-stage careers;

Tachwyr says that the Terrans have been sold a dreadful brand of telloch but he likes skoksh;

Flandry reflects on the notorious Starkad affair but does not reveal any secrets to Tachwyr;

I have recently posted about Commander Abdullah and previously about whether Flandry gets Tachwyr's Vach right;

anything else?

Tachwyr And Flandry

A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, IX.

When Tachwyr and Flandry begin to discuss the probable outcome of the current Terran civil war:

"Tachwyr's relaxation evaporated. Flandry, who knew him from encounters both adversary and half friendly since they were fledglings in their services, had rather expected that." (p. 456)

So they have met often? We saw them meet as fledglings, then once more on a merely social occasion shortly afterwards. That has been all. So there is an untold "Flandry versus Tachwyr" series? Indeed, most of Flandry's career remains untold. He tells Magnusson, but not us, how, on some unidentified neutral planet, he poisoned a Merseian secret agent named Gwanthyr.

The more we know, the more we realize how little we know. That is certainly true of Poul Anderson's Technic History.

Tachwyr And Aycharaych

A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, IX.

While he is on Diomedes, where van Rijn had been, Flandry remembers a visit to Talwin, where he had been before, during which he met both Tachwyr and Aycharaych. Future historical interconnections reach a crescendo. This is the only time that Tachwyr and Aycharaych cross paths. It is the second last time that we see Tachwyr and the very last occasion when we see him in conversation with Flandry.

This novel will climax with a big revelation about Aycharaych. That must be prepared for in a moment of semi-realization by Flandry:

"You're the only Chereionite I've ever met -' Flandry stopped.

"After a moment he proceeded: 'Are you the only Chereionite anybody has ever met?'" (p. 461)

 

When Flandry presses this question, Aycharaych responds:

 

"'You don't expect me to tell you.'" (p. 463)

 

It will also be important later, first, that very few beings know the coordinates of Chereion and, secondly, that, in most of them, that knowledge is unconscious, to be reactivated by a stimulus, so these facts are underlined here. Anything that is going to be important later has to have been mentioned earlier.

Tachwyr And Another Comparison

Flandry has known Tachwyr:

"...from encounters both adversary and half friendly since they were fledglings in their services..."
-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Sir Diminic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 339-606 AT IX, p. 456.

But we have seen only the first two of those encounters, in Volumes I and II of the Young Flandry Trilogy. (That Trilogy comprises Volume IV of Baen Books' The Technic Civilization Saga.) As with the earlier trader team series, most of the adventures happen between the few that are recorded for our benefit.

Flandry tells Tachwyr that, during the Terran civil war, he has been:

"'...jumping around like a probability function in a high wind.'" (ibid.)

Compare Manse Everard:

"'...hopping around in all space-time like fleas on a griddle...'" (see here)

We see Tachwyr only once more but on his own territory and not in contact with Flandry.

Brechdan, Tachwyr, Chwioch And Aycharaych

The Game of Empire, CHAPTER SIX.

Tachwyr refers explicitly to Brechdan and to the events of Ensign Flandry:

"'The great Brechdan Ironrede fashioned a scheme that would have ruined the Terrans utterly, and saw it crumble in his grasp.'" (p. 265)

Chwioch the Dandy is the bailiff of Brechdan's Castle Dhanghodan in Ensign Flandry and the Merseian Ambassador to Terra in The Game of Empire. 

Tachwyr refers explicitly to Aycharaych and to the events of A King of Ghosts and Shadows:

"...Aycharaych died when the Dennitzans bombarded his planet. At least, he vanished; you could never be sure of anything with the Chereionite." (p. 267)

Might Poul Anderson have brought Aycharaych back? Tachwyr does not know that, even if Aycharaych has survived, he no longer has any reason to work for Merseia.

As a series grows, its internal history lengthens and becomes more complicated.

Morning And Night

We first see Brechdan Ironrede when it is morning at Castle Dhanghodan on Merseia whereas we last see Tachwyr the Dark when:

"Winter night lay over the South Wilwidh Ocean."

-The Game of Empire, CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO, p. 445.

Brechdan stands and salutes the dazzling light of the sun Korych whereas Tachwyr sits in a stony room beneath the flying moon Neihevin, the lurid light of the Valenderay nebula, the speeding glints of satellites generating forcefields to guard against supernova radiation and a few forlorn stars.

Brechdan from his terrace sees morning mists, distant glaciers and a wheeling fangryf whereas Tachwyr in his islet stronghold hears crashing seas and shrilling wind.

Pathetic fallacy gone mad!  

Merseians

The Game Of Empire.

CHAPTERs SIX and ELEVEN and the concluding passage of TWENTY-TWO are entirely about Merseians. The first and third of these are set on Merseia, like "Day of Burning" and several chapters of Ensign Flandry.

Tachwyr the Dark had been a mei when Dominic Flandry was an ensign, then a lieutenant. We are pleased (?) to learn that, when Flandry has become an Admiral of the Fleet, Tachwyr has become the Hand of his Vach and the Guardian of the Roidhun's Grand Council.

CHAPTER ELEVEN brings out most clearly that the Technic History is a future history not only of Terrans but also of Merseians when it tells us that:

Qanryf Bryadan Arrowswift of the Vach Hallen comes from an arctic shore of the Wilwidh Ocean;

Afal Uroch the Lucky of the Vach Rueth has partial Lafdiguan ancestry.

See also here.

The demoralization of the Merseians that will lead to their failure to conquer the galaxy surely sets in at the end of CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO when Tachwyr realizes that he will not live to see the subjugation of humanity.

Merseian Names

Runei the Wanderer was an interstellar explorer.

Brechdan Ironrede has essentially the same nickname as Harald Hardrada, a historical figure and the central character of Poul Anderson's Last Viking Trilogy. When Brechdan's bailiff, Chwioch the Dandy, becomes Ambassador to Terra, he could  appropriately be renamed "the Shrewd" but prefers that the Terrans underestimate him. An earlier Ambassador was called Ruethven of the Long Hand. (I think. I will confirm this name when I can access books in a room where my granddaughter is currently exercising.) (Later: Ruethen.) Brechdan's successor, Tachwyr the Dark, has skin of a slightly deeper green than is usual around the Wilwidh Ocean.

Brechdan's cyborg spy, Dwyr the Hook, had been Dwyr the Merry. He has also been Dwyr of Tanis and there is a Gwyanafon of Brightwater so personal names can include place names.

Brechdan's fellow Councillors include Shwylt Shipsbane, Lifrith, Priadwyr and Eidhafor. We may guess at the origin of Shwylt's nickname and are not told those of the others. However, later, there is a Fodaich Eidhafor the Bold of Vach Dathyr in the Merseian Navy. Tachwyr's fellow Councillors include, apart from Gwyanafon (see above), Odhar the Curt and Alwis Longtail. (All Merseians have substantial tails on which they sit.)

Dominic Flandry is captured by a Merseian crew whose broch (Second Mate) is Tryntaf the Tall, another self-explanatory nickname. Datholch Ydwyr the Seeker is a scientist whereas Qanryf Morioch Sun-in-Eye is a Naval Commandant. Ydwyr is also the Roidun's nephew. Flandry meets Brechdan and Ydwr and is a friend of Tachwyr. Ydwyr has a more exalted way of expressing his family connection:

"'As for my standing, I belong to the Vach Urdiolch, and' - he stood up and touched his brow while he finished - ' it is my high honor that a brother of my late noble father is, in the glory of the God, Almighty Roidhun of Merseia, the Race, and all holdings, dominions, and subordinates of the Race.'"
- Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), pp. 281-282.

On hearing this, Flandry urges his human companion to join him in leaping up and saluting appropriately.

Cnif hu Vanden, a xenophysiologist, descended from Merseians of the pre-unification Republic of Lafdigu in the southern hemisphere, was born on a colony planet that retains Lafdiguan language and laws. Thus, his skin is yellow, Eriau is not his first language and he belongs to no Vach.

Chunderban Desai negotiates with a Merseian whose name I will confirm. (Later: Uldwyr of Vach Hallen.) Meanwhile, down with the Roidhun and "Glory to the Emperor!"

(My real world views are not imperialistic so this engagement with Anderson's texts must be understood as part of a dramatic performance.)

How Intelligence-Gathering Works

A Circus Of Hells, CHAPTER TWELVE.

When the Merseian ship, Brythioch, visited Irumclaw, Tachwyr met Flandry there;

knowing that Flandry had been involved with Abrams in an important affair on Merseia, Tachwyr informed the chief intelligence officer of the Brythioch of Flandry's presence on Irumclaw;

the intelligence officer directed the Merseian spy ring on Irumclaw, led by Rax, to watch Flandry and to investigate any unusual activity by him;

the officer also asked Morioch, commandant of the base on Talwin, to stand by;

months later, a courier torpedo from the agents on Irumclaw informed Morioch, first, that Flandry was collaborating with a criminal gang and, secondly, that, in accordance with the orders that they had received, the agents had infiltrated the operation and learned of Wayland;

Morioch now informs Ydwyr that Djana, paid by Rax without knowing his allegiance, captured Flandry on leaving Wayland and brought his boat to a set of coordinates where Merseians would find it;

Morioch and Ydwyr agree that their agents on Irumclaw should be rewarded.

The agents would not have been watching Flandry if Tachwyr had not met Flandry on Irumclaw. That is why we were informed that:

"In this case Merseia profited, at least initially."

-CHAPTER ONE, p. 198.

 

Has anyone wondered what the title of A Circus Of Hells means?