From:	Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU>
Subject:	OZ sourcebook
Date:	Tue, 22 Jun 1993 11:27:17 +1000

>> ... So that Oz
>> society becomes Aboriginal in structure, with white-anglo-saxons
>> very much second class citizens.

> Interesting, but how's this for a bit extra: You know how most of Oz
> population is based in the East Coast (and bits in SW WA, Tassie, etc),
> perhaps these are still controlled by w-a-saxons (plus perhaps bits of
> central NSW, VIC and QLD), and the rest is claimed by the Aborigines.
> This separation could have been a violent period, with the Oz government
> losing out in a big way.

Certainly the city sprawl would be mainly along the east coast, and
certainly this is the area that most w-a-saxons would live. I see
the Aboriginals basically as the upper class, with Aboriginal cultural
ideals as the culture of the upper class. Just because they're
Aboriginal doesn't mean they don't have hi-tech - I see them as
`owning' and controlling the tech. Part of the reason is that in
Australia, the land won't tolerate certain types of industrial
activity. Or perhaps that's just the Aboriginals's `line', to keep
us white folk under control... :-)

You can _bet_ that the changeover would have been violent.

> An advantage to this idea is that you can have hi-tech, city areas that
> the runners live-in, plus a wild, magical outback controlled and restored
> by Aboriginal magic. Within this area, the w-a-saxons could be second
> class citizens.

I can still have hi-tech anyway, and yet any runners from overseas
would have to worry about subtly different cultural `mores' at all
times, not just when they're in the outback. The outback magic
wouldn't be so much `wild', as primeval and threatening. Until you
do something wrong, anyway...

> I think though that it would perhaps be better highlighting a human vs
> metahuman racial problem, rather than playing with current human races.

I appreciate that the metahuman aspect lets people write about racism
in a way which doesn't upset anyone. I feel equal to the challenge of
dealing with a real racial issue without being offensive.

> Perhaps the militant Aborigines in the outback are dark elves?

I'm afraid I don't like the idea of relegating Aboriginals to the
role of dark elves in the outback. Or were you jesting, forsooth?