Freehold Miscellanea

(i) "Warm outfits were kept for travelers at the foot of the pass, to be returned on the other side, with a small rental paid to the servant of the landholder."
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 41.

That is neat. Something, in this case warm clothing for travelers, is organized for the benefit of everyone. The service is not exorbitant, "...a small rental...," although the reference to a rental fee reminds us that the outbackers operate a money economy while the reference to a landholder's servant reminds us of the property differences that still exist in this part of Freeholder society despite the abundance of free food.

(ii) No one owns Moon Garnet Lake, which is "...the heart of the Upwoods..." (p. 50) and "'...too basic to the whole country. Anyone may use it.'" (p. 51) It is a natural site for head of household meetings and for an army rendezvous. Outbackers violently and successfully resist a City dwellers' attempt to found a town beside the lake.

(iii) Outbackers use horses, stathas (green and hexapodal although not described here), wagons, boats and rafts. The reference to naturalized horses and stathas provides a strong background link with the following "Outpost of Empire" work, The Day Of Their Return. Also, there is Merseian influence on both Freehold and Aeneas.

(iv) John Ridenour thinks: "If we ever fall, [the outbackers]'ll carry on something of what was ours. But I'd better not emphasize this [to a fellow Imperialist]." (p. 69)

Something of Freehold itself survives because a "'...neo-Freehold technique...'" is used nearly a millennium later during the Allied Planets period. See Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 689.