Wardens and Rangers cause the entire history that led to them, then are neutralized by two causal circles involving Malcolm Lockridge. That sounds designed. Well, Poul Anderson did design it but what conclusions might be drawn by people living in that timeline?
Storm, the Goddess, founded the cult of the Goddess and every conflict, prehistorical or historical, is a front for Wardens and Rangers:
aborigines and invaders;
Vanir and Aesir;
goddess-worshipers and god-worshipers;
Catholics and Protestants;
Cavaliers and Roundheads;
Allies and Axis;
pre-time-travel Wardens and Rangers in the fortieth century;
etc.
Wardens led by Storm try to end the conflict by attacking the Ranger heartland through a new corridor from the 1960's but Brann leads a counterattack down the corridor and captures Storm when she has fled to 1827 BC with Lockridge. As we know, the key is Lockridge. With the tables turned against Brann, the Wardens begin to organize the Bronze Age but then Lockridge escapes under cover of an attack led by himself and organizes a Bronze Age free from both Wardens and Rangers. It is probably the loss of both Storm and Brann that causes the two sides to lose momentum and to wear each other out in their own era.
Both Brann and then Storm have the horrific experience of finding themselves attacked by Lockridge when they least expect it. It as if the gods had at last said, "Stop fighting in our name."
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