Has he not noticed, I wonder? Is it coincidence that the three most powerful people in Garwater, hence in Armada and hence on the seas, are out-landers? That they were not born within its confines? That they grew to cognition and agency unconstrained by the limits of what is, what remains and cannot but be a mess of old boats, a little town – even if the most extraordinary one in the history of Bas-Lag – and can therefore see a world beyond its petty robberies and claustrophobic pride?
