I said here that "dragon" must be a messenger bird's idea of a flying vehicle whereas, of course, the messenger bird does not have ideas. It merely repeats messages. I was falling into the trap of anthropomorphizing a bird merely because it seemed to be conversing.
The outbacker Karlsarm travels on Arulian ships to spy within the Terran Empire where he even attends universities. In this, he resembles the Scothani (also within the Technic History) and the Alori (in the Psychtechnic History). The outbackers' anti-mechanistic, back-to-nature routine resembles the Alorian culture or way of life. The outbackers are human beings whereas the Alori are implausible humanoid beings. We appreciate Poul Anderson's development of similar ideas in different directions.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Of course I agree the Outbackers of Freehold had a right to live as they wished, but I'm not happy with their destruction of the Nine Cities, which can only be called brutal, even if care was taken to evacuate them. I also think the Outbackers should have tried to become KNOWN to the Cities, including publicizing knowledge of their kind of technology, long before the events recorded in "Outpost." That would have prevented the Cities from erroneously claiming to speak for all Freehold in the negotiations leading to the Empire's annexation of the planet.
Sean
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