The lodestar of the present yarn is due to him. He proposed it to me back in 1970. I put his letter aside to sparkle in a heap of similar communications from him, until an opportunity should come to use, not just the notion, but the considerable details of physics and chemistry which accompanied it. Well, I waited too long. Now I can but hope that he would have liked what I've done, and wish he could know with what love I dedicate to him this ending of a saga on which so long we worked together.
Goodbye, John.
—Poul Anderson, 1973
Chronology Of Techic
Civilization
—COMPILED BY SANDRA MIESEL—
The Technic Civilization series sweeps across five millennia and hundreds of light-years of space to chronicle three cycles of history shaping both human and non-human life in our corner of the universe. It begins in the twenty-first century, with recovery from a violent period of global unrest known as the Chaos. New space technologies ease Earth's demand for resources and energy permitting exploration of the Solar system.
ca. 2055 "The Saturn Game" ( Analog Science Fiction, hereafter ASF , February, 1981) 22nd C The discovery of hyperdrive makes interstellar travel feasible early in the twenty-second century. The Breakup sends humans off to colonize the stars, often
to preserve cultural identity or to try a social experiment. A loose government called the Solar Commonwealth is established. Hermes is colonized. 2150 "Wings of Victory" ( ASF, April, 1972) The Grand Survey from Earth discovers alien races on Yithri, Merseia, and many other planets. 23rdC The Polesetechnic League is founded as a mutual protection association of space-faring merchants. Colonization of Aeneas and Altai. 24thC "The Problem of Pain" ( Fantasy and Science Fiction, February, 1973) 2376 Nicholas van Rijn born poor on Earth Colonization of Vixen. 2400 Council of Hiawatha, a futile attempt to reform the League. Colonization of Dennitza. 2406 David Falkayn born noble on Hermes, a breakaway human grand duchy. 2416 "Margin of Profit" ( ASF, September, 1956)
[van Rijn]
"How to Be Ethnic in One Easy Lesson" (in Future Quest , ed. Roger Elwood, Avon Books, 1974)
* * *
2423 "The Three-Cornered Wheel" ( ASF, April, 1966) [Falkayn]
* * *
STORIES OVERLAP
2420s "A Sun Invisible" ( ASF, April, 1966) [Falkayn] "The Season of Forgiveness" ( Boy's Life, December, 1973) [set on same planet as "The Three-Cornered Wheel"] The Man Who Counts(Ace Books, 1978 as War of the Wing-Men, Ace Books, 1958 from "The Man Who Counts," ASF , February-April,1958) [van Rijn] "Esau" (as "Birthright," ASF February, 1970) [van Rijn] "Hiding Place" ( ASF, March, 1961) [van Rijn]
* * *
STORIES OVERLAP
2430s "Territory" ( ASF, June, 1963) [van Rijn] "The Trouble Twisters" (as "Trader Team," ASF , July-August, 1971) [Falkayn] "Day of Burning" (as "Supernova," ASF January, 1967) [Falkayn]
Falkayn saves civilization on Merseia, mankind's future foe. "The Master Key" ( ASF August, 1971)
[van Rijn] Satan's World(Doubleday, 1969 from ASF , May-August, 1968) [van Rijn and Falkayn]
"A Little Knowledge" (ASF , August, 1971) The League has become a set of ruthless cartels.
* * *
2446 "Lodestar" (in Astounding: The John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology. ed. Harry Harrison. Random House, 1973) [van Rijn and Falkayn] Rivalries and greed are tearing the League apart. Falkayn marries van Rijn's favorite granddaughter. 2456 Mirkheim. (Putnam Books, 1977) [van Rijn and Falkayn] The Babur War involving Hermes gravely wounds the League. Dark days loom. late 25thC
Falkayn founds a joint human-Ythrian colony on Avalon ruled by the Domain of Ythri. [same planet—renamed—as "The Problem of Pain."] 26thC "Wingless" (as "Wingless on Avalon ," Boy's Life, July, 1973) [Falkayn's grandson] "Rescue on Avalon" (in Children of Infinity. ed. Roger Elwood. Franklin Watts, 1973) Colonization of Nyanza. 2550 Dissolution of the Polesotechnic League. 27thC
The Time of Troubles brings down the Commonwealth. Earth is sacked twice and left prey to barbarian slave raiders. ca. 2700 "The Star Plunderer" ( Planet Stories, hereafter PS , September, 1952) Manuel Argos proclaims the Terran Empire with citizenship open to all intelligent species. The Principate phase of the Imperium ultimately brings peace to 100,000 inhabited worlds within a sphere of stars 400
light-years in diameter. 28thC Colonization of Unan Besar. "Sargasso of Lost Starships" ( PS, January, 1952) The Empire annexes old colony on Ansa by force. 29thC The People of the Wind( New American Library from ASF , February-April, 1973) The Empire's war on another civilized imperium starts its slide towards decadence. A descendant of Falkayn and an ancestor of Flandry cross paths.
30thC The Covenant of Alfazar, an attempt at détente between Terra and Merseia, fails to achieve peace. 3000 Dominic Flandry born on Earth, illegitimate son of an opera diva and an aristocratic space captain. 3019 Ensign Flandry(Chilton, 1966 from shorter version in Amazing, hereafter AMZ , October, 1966) Flandry's first collision with the Merseians. 3021 A Circus of Hells(New American Library, 1970. incorporates "the White King's War," Galaxy , hereafter Gal , October, 1969. Flandry is a Lieutenant (j.g.). 3022 Degenerate Emperor Josip succeeds weak old Emperor Georgios. 3025 The Rebel Worlds(New American Library, 1969) A military revolt on the frontier world of Aeneas almost starts an age of Barracks Emperors. Flandry is a Lt. Commander, then promoted to Commander. 3027
"Outpost of Empire" ( Gal, December, 1967) [not Flandry] The misgoverned Empire continues fraying at its borders. 3028 The Day of Their Return(New American Library, 1973) [Aycharaych but not Flandry] Aftermath of the rebellion on Aeneas. 3032 "Tiger by the Tail" ( PS, January, 1951) [Flandry]
Flandry is a Captain and averts a barbarian invasion. 3033 "Honorable Enemies" ( Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories,
May, 1951) [Flandry] Captain Flandry's first brush with enemy agent Aycharaych 3035 "The Game of Glory" ( Venture, March, 1958) [Flandry] Set on Nyanza, Flandry has been knighted. 3037 "A Message in Secret" (as Mayday Orbit , Ace Books, 1961 from shorter version, "A Message in Secret," Fantasti c, December, 1959) [Flandry] Set on Altai. 3038 "The Plague of Masters" (as Earthman, Go Home! , Ace Books, 1961 from "A Plague of Masters," Fantastic , December, 1960-January, 1961.) [Flandry] Set on Unan Besar. 3040 "Hunters of the Sky Cave" (as We Claim These Stars!, Ace Books, 1959 from shorter version, "A Handful of Stars, Amz, June, 1959) [Flandry and Aycharaych] Set on Vixen. 3041 Interregnum: Josip dies. After three years of civil war, Hans Molitor will rule as sole emperor. 3042 "The Warriors from Nowhere" (as "The Ambassadors of Flesh," PS , Summer, 1954.) Snapshot of disorders in the war-torn Empire. 3047 A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows(New American Library, 1975 from Gal September/October-November/December, 1974)
[Flandry] Set on Dennitza, Flandry meets his illegitimate son and has a final tragic confrontation with Aycharaych. 3054 Emperor Hans dies and is succeeded by his sons, first Dietrich, then Gerhart. 3061
A Stone in Heaven(Ace Books, 1979) [Flandry] Admiral Flandry pairs off with the daughter of his first mentor from Ensign Flandry . 3064 The Game of Empire(Baen Books, 1985) [Flandry] Flandry is a Fleet Admiral, meets his illegitimate daughter Diana. early 4thmillennium The Terran Empire becomes more rigid and tyrannical in its Dominate phase. The Empire and Merseia wear each other out. mid
4thmillennium The Long Night follows the Fall of the Terran Empire.War, piracy, economic collapse, and isolation devastate countless worlds. 3600 "A Tragedy of Errors" ( Gal, February, 1968) Further fragmentation among surviving human worlds. 3900 "The Night Face" (Ace Books, 1978. as Let the Spacemen Beware! , Ace Books, 1963 from shorter version "A Twelvemonth and a Day," Fantastic Universe , January, 1960) Biological and psychological divergence among Surviving humans. 4000
"The Sharing of Flesh" ( Gal, December, 1968) Human explorers heal genetic defects and uplift savagery. 7100 "Starfog" ( ASF, August. 1967) Revived civilization is expanding. A New Vixen man from the libertarian Commonalty meets descendants of the rebels from Aeneas. Although Technic Civilization is extinct
, another—and perhaps better—turn on the Wheel of Time has begun for our galaxy. The Commonalty must inevitably decline just as the League and Empire did before it. But the Wheel will go on turning as long as there are thinking minds to wonder at the stars.
* * *
Poul Anderson was consulted about this chart but any errors are my own.
THE END
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