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I read this short fiction (novelette or novella, not short story) more than 30 years ago, in a collection that was probably much older.

The main character is some kind of “Merchant Prince” but this has nothing to do with Asimov’s Foundation series, I just picked this name to describe him.

He has discovered an unknown planet inhabited by natives who are rather belligerent herders, depending also on hunting and gathering.

Still he starts to arrange some communication with one tribe for barter. But suddenly he is attacked and has to flee from his spaceship.

I am not sure whether a different tribe has attacked, but I think more probably that the first tribe suddenly changed from barter partners to enemies for some reason I do not remember.

He takes refuge in another tribe, because he needs help to recover his ship. IIRC, he tries to convince them that the tribe that has attacked him will steal their land with the powerful weapons they stole from his ship (which is a total lie). This starts something like a war.

But later he will stop the war, recover his ship and do (very profitable) barter not just with these two tribes but with many of the tribes on the planet.

Sam Azon most probably identified the "Merchant Prince" as Poul Anderson's character Nicholas Van Rijn.

But the are many stories about him, and IIRC, the two tribes I mention above belong to the same species of aliens. There is only one "sentient" species in my story. Different tribes, yes, but not different species, contrary to the case of "The Man Who Counts" which was initially proposed by Organic Marble, who then proposed the correct answer, namely "Territory".

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    Sounds like something that might be from Poul Anderson's Palesotechnic League. Does the name Van Rijn ring a bell? Commented Aug 16 at 20:05
  • @SamAzon Now that you mention it, it does ring a bell ! I could try and find the story myself, using your hint. But it dos not seem fair. Why don't you try and find the exact story ? Commented Aug 16 at 20:27
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    @SamAzon In fact "Palesotechnic" also rang a bell, but the ringing was a bit off. Some research about Poul Anderson and Nicholas Van Rijn led to Polesotechnic League and a list of about 20 stories, with a warning that not all of them are about Van Rijn. They are probably not easy to find to compare to my story. It might be easier for you if you know this series well... Commented Aug 16 at 20:50
  • Re: the two species, see the spoiler I added in my answer. Commented Aug 16 at 21:52
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    @SamAzon Thank you for reducing the chase to Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic books and in particular to Van Rijn ! Commented Aug 17 at 2:37

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There is another van Rijn tale, this one a novella, which is also similar. I didn't choose it for the answer at first because a war never actually happens. But with the expanded question, it might fit better.

The story is "Territory". Once again van Rijn is stranded, this time on a planet of tiger-like humanoid carnivores who are herders. They are working together when suddenly a faction of the natives attacks. Thinking van Rijn is dead, the starships they came in leave. van Rijn and a human woman must survive until a ship returns to see what happened.

van Rijn uses divide and conquer techniques to get a different faction of the natives on his side. He does use the lie about the first faction stealing weapons as part of this. There is no actual war between the factions in the story, but the group he co-opts uses a show of force to gain entry to the last vestige of civilization on the planet, the inhabitants of which stirred up the trouble.

The story can be read online in the June 1963 Analog.

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    Yes, this is the one. What I meant by "start a war and stop it" was what you call "a show of force". Commented Aug 17 at 1:53
  • @Alfred nice! I enjoyed reading this story again. Commented Aug 17 at 1:56
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    It is my story indeed, and a very nice one. But it is not a "short story", on isfdb it is indeed called a novella. isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?55406 I remembered it was "semi-short". But yes, "divide and conquer", "show of force", fit better than "start a war and stop it", but this was my attempt to describe what this manipulative van Rijn was up to ! Commented Aug 17 at 2:25
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    @Alfred Thanks, I fixed the "short story" reference. Commented Aug 17 at 2:40
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This has strong "The Man Who Counts" aka "War of the Wing-men" by Poul Anderson vibes, although some details are different.

Without getting into spoilers, there are two groups of aliens on the planet, one that flies, and one that operates oceangoing vessels. The protagonist (Nicholas Van Rijn) must ally with one of the groups.

Van Rijn, an engineer who works for him, and a woman are crashed on a little-explored planet where humans can live, but not eat the food. They have food for eight weeks, but no means to contact the only human outpost half-way around the planet. There are natives, however, who can fly (the planet is a large, low-density planet with correspondingly dense air.)

Van Rijn and company have been deposited in the middle of a war between a band of native who live on shipboard and one which inhabits a string of islands. Neither has the time or the resources to aid the humans. Van Rijn, ever the leader sets out to free up the native resources by winning the war for one side. He works the engineer mercilessly while himself lounging around, bossing everyone who gets within range including the natives, and eating twice his share of the human's food.

Anderson's preferred title for this story is The Man Who Counts and that tells it all. As the woman replies to the engineer late in the story as he complains once again about having to do all the work while van Rijn just talks, effective leadership is a far greater and far rarer skill than technical accomplishments. They could not possibly have escaped without van Rijn, but van Rijn might well have come up with some other way to escape for himself without them.

Besides having a serious point to make, the story is good adventure and is set on a very well-realized planet - the world and its biology are well thought out and have a direct bearing on the story itself.

Source: https://data.nesfa.org/reviews/Olson/WarOfTheWingMen.html

The original Astounding magazine publication can be read at the Luminist Archives. It was serialized starting with the February 1958 issue.

Spoiler:

The two groups of aliens turn out to be the same species. "They are the same identical stupid race!" - van Rijn, end of Chapter 19

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    Some details do match my memories, some do not. I do not remember natives who can fly. But then, my memory is far from perfect. I'd rather not accept this answer and wait for alternate proposals. But thank you anyway (I did upvote you) Commented Aug 16 at 21:04
  • Van Rijn's behaviour does also ring a bell, but IIRC in my story he is not just "deposited in the middle of a war". He actually starts it ! But ends it before it gets out of control. Commented Aug 16 at 21:07
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    @Alfred no worries, I can easily imagine other books with the same basic plot. It's been a while since I read this, but I think the two groups were just kind of raiding each other until van Rijn showed up. He organizes the flying group and sets out to conclusively defeat the Fleet. Commented Aug 16 at 21:07
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    In my story, IIRC, there is neither winner nor loser. Van Rijn starts the war to break a deadlock, but stops it before it gets too bad. No "conclusive defeat". Commented Aug 16 at 21:40
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    But but but... chapter 19 ? "The Man That Counts" is a rather long novel. Mine is a novella or even a novelette (but not a short story) Also your spoiler reveals a surprise, something that was not known till late in the story. In my story, it is quite obvious from the start. Commented Aug 16 at 22:14

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