Good thoughtful meta. I had some rabid teachers growing up on the subject of the Civil War-- not to mention the fact that I spent my childhood in the South-- but I've never had much opportunity to study the aftermath; something that's going to have to go on my to-do list now.
> I see Mal as one who really truly believed in the indepence cause and even in their victory, perhaps up until Serenity Valley and his surrender. That I think, having that faith that may have kept him sane and somewhat human during the war, crushed, would have been the harder wound to heal from. Why he's so against God and such faith.
I'd add to this-- if you count the background info published in the Serenity RPG as canon, and it certainly fits in this case-- Mal lost his homeworld fairly early in the war, so the only things left to him would have been God, his cause, and Zoe, and he'd cling all the more fiercely to them for that, because he'd have to believe it would all have been worth it in the end. And then came the Valley... *wince*
Shadow was a prairie planet that took well to terraforming. It was known for farms & ranches. There planet was almost entirely rural, no cities but a few towns dotted the surface. The people of Shadow were hard workers and independent-minded. It was one of the first to stand against the Alliance. Most of the planets young people volunteered to fight for Independence.
Shadow was aggressively bombed during the war in an attempt to break the Browncoats & teach them a lesson; it had the opposite effect.
Today, Shadow is a ghost planet. No one lives there. No one can.
Mal in the War
> I see Mal as one who really truly believed in the indepence cause and even in their victory, perhaps up until Serenity Valley and his surrender. That I think, having that faith that may have kept him sane and somewhat human during the war, crushed, would have been the harder wound to heal from. Why he's so against God and such faith.
I'd add to this-- if you count the background info published in the Serenity RPG as canon, and it certainly fits in this case-- Mal lost his homeworld fairly early in the war, so the only things left to him would have been God, his cause, and Zoe, and he'd cling all the more fiercely to them for that, because he'd have to believe it would all have been worth it in the end. And then came the Valley... *wince*
RPG Reference (from Serenity Roleplaying Game, ISBN: 1931567506)
Shadow was a prairie planet that took well to terraforming. It was known for farms & ranches. There planet was almost entirely rural, no cities but a few towns dotted the surface. The people of Shadow were hard workers and independent-minded. It was one of the first to stand against the Alliance. Most of the planets young people volunteered to fight for Independence.
Shadow was aggressively bombed during the war in an attempt to break the Browncoats & teach them a lesson; it had the opposite effect.
Today, Shadow is a ghost planet. No one lives there. No one can.