Turns out that they love eating threadgrass and it gives the bison meat a particularly pleasant spicy flavor. So this is a long way of saying while there are imported items, none of them would find their way into residential areas.
The other reason, of course, is because I am lazy. I didn't want to spend too much time designing the eco-system of Deucado. In fact, in the chapter lovingly called 'The Blanket's Tale' in Rome's Evolution, I even came up with a scientific explanation as to why there were so few plants and animals. There are also no bugs or insects of any kind. My laziness will come to an end soon. My reluctance to build an entire eco-system will be rectified in The Milk Run where I spend a much greater time showing you the twin habitable worlds of Nu2 Lupi.
Entry 1-237: August 19, 2013
The Cavaliers
In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM related to Rei the origin of the Cavaliers:
“...Slowly, society devolved into nomads and farmers. There was no technology they could draw from deemed acceptable. Much of the knowledge required was lost or inaccessible. Around 400PR, most people lived in loosely coupled settlements formed into a semi-feudal arrangement. There were certain landlords who controlled vast areas of real estate and the rest of the people worked for them. A caste arose to keep order among the citizens. They were called Cavaliers. They were a combination of police, judge, jury and executioner. They had free reign and a wide charter to enforce the law.”
“So what was the law?”
“Just to leave each other alone and live in peace.”
“That seems pretty reasonable,” said Rei. “Then what?”
“Inevitably, over the years, the Cavaliers began to abuse their power. They became a force of oppression. But since their charter was to keep the rest of the populace disarmed, no one could do anything about it.”
So you can see that originally, the Cavaliers were meant to be the best of the best. They always wore white shirts and hats and no one feared them. The figurative mantle of being a Cavalier was passed down from father to son. We can see that in The Ark Lords and the story of Hanry Ta Jihn, Jack Henry. He makes reference to his white shirt and that he expected to be a Cavalier one day.
However, as OMCOM mentioned, absolute power corrupts absolutely. It took a long time but eventually the Cavaliers took to wearing black shirts and expected compensation for their services. Basically this was "protection" money like criminals of today. They came to be feared, not admired. Tomorrow I'll tell you a little more about James (Jim) Henry who became known as The Last Cavalier.
Entry 1-238: August 20, 2013
The Last Cavalier, Part 1
Hanry Ta Jihn, one of the greatest men to live after the Great Dying, was the son of James (Jim) Henry, often referred to as The Last Cavalier. Hanry Ta Jihn, or Jack Henry as we would call him, led a bloody but ultimately successful revolution against the Erklirte. The key Battle of Chicago was documented in The Ark Lords as was a bit more of that time period.
But what of Jim Henry? We don't learn much about him in The Ark Lords and he is not mentioned at all in Rome's Revolution or Rome's Evolution.
The fact is, I had originally planned on writing an entire trilogy about him and Jack and their encounter with the Ark Lords and call the series The Last Cavalier. I started the book in 2009 and it was going to be told in the first person. It was the intimate details about how Jim Henry stumbled across the Ark Lords. At that point in time, I had the name Brody instead of James for the father but after I watched Homeland (a great show), I decided to change it. Also, Jack Henry's nickname was Jake, not Jack but that is a minor detail. Jake's (or Jack's) mother was always named Helen, that never changed.
Here is the first part and in the next few posts, I'll give you the rest. The narrator is Hanry Ta Jihn, himself.