The Oriati Mbo had never invented inoculations. Or rocket-launched naval incendiaries. Or citrus anti-scurvy regimens. Or soap before surgery. Or techniques of social control. Thus Falcrest believed that its method triumphed over the Oriati way. But Falcrest found the Oriati utterly resistant to their suasions and enticements. Not because the Oriati were primitive or ignorant, not because they were all the same, but because the one thing that united their vast nation of nations was a belief in trim: doing the right thing just because it was right.
