Copied from Poul Anderson Appreciation, 25 Nov 2014.
The Kirkasanter crew are of the Hoborkan clan and speak its tongue. Reyad
is the need to search, to hunt, to find the new or to be alone in wild
places. The crew are fifteen men and five women. Women are included
because they are better at some jobs but every woman is accompanied by
an older male relative!
Kirkasanters are instinctively,
not culturally, motivated to have children and will not limit their
population in any circumstances. With an initially small population in a
hostile, radioactive environment, the race survived only by reproducing
as much as possible, helped by mutations. The Hoborkans initially
refuse to give cell samples for chromosome analysis because this would
violate the body which is the citadel of the ego. This attitude hinders
medicine but encourages dignity and self-reliance.
Graydal tells Laure that, on Kirkasant, they will:
watch the sunset in the Rainbow Desert, followed by the bright night with auroras;
see flying flocks rise from dawn mists over salt marshes;
stand on the battlements of Ey beneath the banners of knights who "'...rid the land of firearms...'" (Flandry's Legacy, p. 748);
watch dances welcoming the new year.
I
am not sure what is meant by ridding the land of firearms - Graydal
carries a gun - and, of course, I do not remember noticing this phrase
before I started to summarize information about Kirkasant. Graydal also
wears a uniform, a practice that has become obsolete in the Commonalty
civilization.
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