Outback

The Outback is a region of the Federated Suns comprising some of its poorest and most underdeveloped worlds.

As it is not an officially designated area, the Outback's exact boundaries are not set, though in 3067 Woodbine was informally considered to be its "capital".[1] In general worlds considered to be part of the Outback are situated in the outer regions of the nation's Capellan, Crucis and Draconis Marches, nearer to the Periphery than to New Avalon and the Suns' prosperous core. Outback worlds are characterized by their near-total lack of education and subsistence levels of living and culture.[2] [3] [4] The Outback also has the dubious honor of including the only anarchic planetary governments in the entire Federated Suns, and hosting animal blood sports unknown to the rest of the nation.[5] [6]

English is the most widely spoken language in the Outback, followed by Spanish and Italian. Numerous unique dialects exist as a result of the educational rift between the Outback and the more advanced parts of the Suns.[7]

The Outback's most notable deficit is in education, with cities often having a single high school to educate both children and adults. Small settlements are fortunate to have a single teacher, and often the only schooling many Outback denizens possess is whatever their parents could teach them. The Vagabond Schools program, established early in the thirty-first century, attempted to redress this problem but with limited success.[8] [9] On the other hand decent, if basic, medical care is widely available, and the Green Star Corporation provided a much-needed boost to essential services during the mid-thirty-first century.[10] [11]

The Outback's fortunes took a turn for the better after 3079. With secessionist fever running high in the region during and after the Jihad, Princess-Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion established the Periphery March, incorporating most or all of the Outback worlds and placing them on a (theoretically) equal footing with the rest of the nation.[12]

References[edit]

  1. Handbook: House Davion, p. 103, "Woodbine"
  2. Handbook: House Davion, p. 86
  3. Handbook: House Davion, p. 92
  4. Handbook: House Davion, p. 98
  5. Handbook: House Davion, p. 119
  6. Handbook: House Davion, p. 167
  7. Handbook: House Davion, p. 136
  8. Handbook: House Davion, p. 155
  9. Handbook: House Davion, p. 159
  10. Handbook: House Davion, p. 152
  11. Handbook: House Davion, p. 177
  12. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 35, "New March, Dukedom for Marsin"

Bibliography[edit]