Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
Author H. Beam Piper
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Ace Books
Publication date 1965
Media type Print (Paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-441-49055-7
Followed by Great Kings' War

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is a 1965 science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper and is part of his Paratime series of stories. It recounts the adventures of a Pennsylvania state trooper who is accidentally transported to a more backward parallel universe.

The book is an expanded version of the novelette Gunpowder God, which had been published in 1964 in Analog Magazine. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen was Piper's last science fiction novel.

[edit] Plot summary

Humans on an advanced time-line ("Home") discover "lateral" time dimensions that allow them to travel to "worlds of alternate probability". They use it to exploit natural resources from these alternate realities. The Paratime Police are tasked to keep the invention secret and to combat abuses. Occasionally, objects or people get caught in the paratime "conveyors" and are inadvertently transported to an alternate timeline. While attempting to apprehend a felon at a remote farmhouse, this happens to Corporal Calvin Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police.

He ends up in a significantly different Pennsylvania. Initially confused by the old-growth forest and lack of settlement, Morrison meets some friendly peasants who speak an unknown language. In the middle of a meal, they are attacked by a large raiding party armed with flintlock pistols, which he helps fight off with his police-issue .38 revolver. Reinforcements arrive, but in the confusion, he is shot by the beautiful young woman leading them. Fortunately, the bullet hits his police badge; he is seriously wounded, but not killed. While recuperating, he learns the new language.

It turns out that the alternate North America is split up into a number of kingdoms, each composed of small principalities, with a level of technology roughly equivalent to that of the late Renaissance. Morrison finds himself the guest of Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos -- whose blonde, blue-eyed daughter Rylla was the shooter. He learns that they are being threatened by two of their neighbors, Nostor and Sask, with a third hungrily watching on, Beshta. Ptosphes' overlord, Great King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax, refuses to intervene because the priests of the god Styphon want Hostigos to be destroyed. The religious sect uses its monopoly of gunpowder (known as fireseed) to control the various princes and kings. Hostigos has a sulfur spring, sulfur being a key ingredient of fireseed, and Styphon's House will seize this resource once Hostigos is carved up.

Cut off from gunpowder supplies, Hostigos is certain to be defeated. That is, until Morrison (or Lord Kalvan, as the people begin to call him) organizes production of it in quantity. He also introduces the rapier, improved cannons and rifling. With his understanding of military strategy and tactics, he reorganizes the outnumbered Hostigos army and repulses Nostor. Then, to undermine the primary enemy (Styphon's priesthood), he sees to it that the secret of gunpowder manufacturing is spread far and wide. He rightly assumes that this will quickly undermine Styphon's House.

Meanwhile, Verkan Vall, a top agent of the Paratime Police, tracks Kalvan down and infiltrates his army. The standard procedure would be to "remove" the displaced person to protect the secret by any means judged necessary, generally memory erasure, but possibly committal to an insane asylum or even assassination. Vall takes a liking to the resourceful Kalvan and realizes that his brother policeman has fabricated a background for himself, one that also conceals the Paratime secret. To help persuade his superiors to leave Morrison alone, Vall also recruits historians on the Home timeline. They can now test the Great man theory - can a single, extraordinary individual change the course of history?

After the defeat of Nostor, Sask and Beshta become allies, forcing Kalvan to attack before their armies can unite. After a day of confused fighting against the larger Saskan forces, he emerges victorious once again. Sarrask of Sask is captured and agrees to become a vassal of the new Great King after he learns that he can share in the looting of Styphon's lavish temples. At first, Kalvan proposes that his future father-in-law assume the new throne, but Ptosphes informs him that the other princes would never stand for being ruled by one of their peers. Kalvan, as an outsider, is the only one they would accept. Plus, his cover story -- that he was sent by the gods from a far-away land -- plays into the local mythology. Lord Kalvan becomes Great King Kalvan, with Rylla as his queen.

When Gormoth of Nostor hears of Kalvan's successes, he turns against Styphon's House himself. This leads to a bloody civil war. Gormoth is soon assassinated and replaced by a more reasonable man who is willing to acknowledge Kalvan's sovereignty. Balthar of Beshta at first declines to become subject to Kalvan, until he discovers there are no gunpowder mills in his realm; then, he quickly changes his mind. Other neighboring Princes covertly side with Kalvan, as the status quo was never in their favor anyway.

King Kaiphranos is infuriated by the defections, as is the Archpriest of Styphon, but the novel ends at this point. It is left to an authorized sequel written by Roland Green and John F. Carr, Great Kings' War, to pick up the story.

[edit] Characters

[edit] See also