In The Faith of Beasts, direct confrontation with the overwhelmingly powerful Carryx empire is impossible. Instead, the novel argues that true resistance for a subjugated people lies in clandestine, multi-generational subversion. Characters who wish to fight back must adopt a posture of compliance while secretly gathering intelligence, building a culture of rebellion, and forming covert alliances. This long-term strategy requires immense patience and moral compromise, positioning resistance as a slow, corrosive process that exploits the assumptions of the dominant power. 

The most technologically advanced form of this subversion is the swarm’s intelligence-gathering mission. Posing as Jellit, and later as Clae, the swarm operates from within the human moiety, using its access to the Carryx world-palace to collect and analyze vast amounts of data. Its primary purpose is to “collect everything and transmit what it learns back to worlds it has never known” (14-15), functioning as a deep-cover agent in a war that its human companions barely comprehend. The swarm’s ability to masquerade as a loyal, productive member of a “client species” allows it to exploit the very systems designed to control it. The cost of this mission is high because it requires the sacrifice of human lives like Rickar’s to transmit its findings, but it represents the most direct attempt to turn the empire’s power against itself.

While the swarm operates on a technological level, Dafyd initiates a cultural subversion designed to last for generations. Recognizing that a direct uprising is impossible, he recruits Tomos to create a secret culture of resistance embedded in children’s stories. His goal is to teach future generations how to “seem like one thing and be something else” (88), ensuring that the memory of freedom and the desire for rebellion are passed down. By weaving these messages into familiar myths and songs, he creates a form of communication that the Carryx are unlikely to recognize as a threat. This strategy acknowledges that the fight may not be won in their lifetime but must be prepared for by their descendants, turning the Carryx’s demand for a self-sustaining human population into an opportunity to breed future revolutionaries.

Finally, the novel shows subversion through covert alliances with external enemies and internal factions. On the planet designated “World,” Jessyn discovers that the Carryx’s “deathless enemy” includes human soldiers. Rather than report this to her enslavers, she collaborates with Corvall, feigning capture and injury to smuggle a sabotage device back to the Carryx ships. Her deception works because the Carryx view her as a helpless “animal[] of use” (358). Similarly, Dafyd forms a secret pact with the Deep Lothark, a hidden collective consciousness that exists within the bodies of the seemingly loyal Soft Lothark guards. This alliance is built on a shared secret and mutual benefit, allowing Dafyd to gain insights into the Carryx while protecting his own machinations. In both cases, the characters use their subjugated status to forge dangerous partnerships that operate directly under the empire’s nose.