Evagail of the Free People to Ridenour of the Terran Empire:
"'...[the Cities] threatened us. They wouldn't leave our forests alone. As for the Empire, can't it contain one more way of living? Won't mankind be the richer for that?'" (p. 123)
This is Poul Anderson's constant message throughout his works. The two human values are freedom and diversity. The Polesotechnic League upheld one kind of freedom. The Empire does not impose uniformity but can instead protect diversity - in fact, has to.
Look for the same message in many other works by Poul Anderson.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
While I agree with the principle of what Evagail said, I don't much like the Outbackers as a people. Their leaders, like Karlsarm, were willing to be ruthless enough to destroy the Nine Cities. They managed to do that with minimal casualties to the residents, but I don't really doubt many would have been killed if that was what it took to destroy the Cities.
I also blame the Outbackers for being so stand offish from the Cities, refusing the kind of regular contacts and interactions normal with other human cities and their rural regions. It's my view something like that could have enabled both cultures to work out an accommodation preventing a conflict between them.
Ad astra! Sean
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