The Split
Distribution: Public Archive
If we don’t make a concentrated effort to engage this new generation of Salesmen, we are delivering a supreme disservice to the people living and working in the Empire. Our experience, combined with their energy and fresh ideas, can shape the course of our future. Let us work together to create an Empire where different voices can come together in harmony. It is possible, and we can make it happen.” – Senior Salesman and Justice Daniel Swift in an address to the Salesman Court, April 2003
The Split is first referenced in The Book (the late Daniel Swift’s travel journal) given to his daughter Emily Swift on her 30th birthday.
The Split is a vivid way of describing the separation between the older, more traditional Salesmen of the Empire and the newer Salesmen who wanted to make sweeping changes.
It’s significant because they did not usually work together.
The division weakened the Salesmen. If Daniel Swift could have bridged the gap between the two sides, things might have turned out very differently, and the Fringe’s power could have been neutered.