The Freehold outbackers, self-designated as "the Free People," resist the Nine Cities and the Terran Empire and have their equivalent of tunnels (Vietnam, Gaza), although not literal tunnels. Pedestrians, horses and stathas travel through the forests on roads of specially bred tough, dense moss that resists the growth of weeds and that is regularly maintained by gangs laying down the required traces of manganese salt. These routes are small, interconnected and parallel rather than broad. Thus, they preserve the ecology and scenery and are usually undetectable from above. Also, mutant plants cover human scents. Ridenour is told some of this - although Karlsarm does not mention the mutant plants - and thus begins to learn that the Empire does not yet know what it is up against. The Free People cannot win outright but they can make the cost of eradicating them unacceptably great.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Unless, as Stirling suggested, the Imperials chose to use overwhelming force to break the Outbackers, bombarding from space. They wouldn't even have needed to use nukes, just throw big rocks. The kind of culture and technology the Outbackers had couldn't have long survived that.
The conflict on Freehold should have been unnecessary and probably would not have occurred if the Nine Cities and the Outbackers had not been so "isolated" from each other. Mostly the Outbackers' fault, they seemed to have deliberately minimized contact with the Cities, alto I think the latter should have been more at least more curious about the rest of the planet. Easier to have reached an accommodation with each other before both cultures developed to the point where conflict was forseeable.
Ad astra! Sean
Ad astra!
Yes, if one contestant commands space and the other doesn't, it takes special circumstances of an unlikely sort for the planet-bound to win.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree. Usually it's political reasons that sometimes prevents one side or the other in such conflicts from "going all out" to win.
Ad astra! Sean
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