House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion

by David Weber

  The fact that since the adoption of Crown Prince Adrienne so many monarchs of the Star Kingdom have been adopted by treecats has given rise to some conspiracy theories. Unquestionably, adopting a monarch or a potential monarch gives the treecats powerful protection at Court, but the Wintons have also recognized the benefits of human-treecat bonding, and heirs to the Crown routinely travel to Sphinx to meet the treecats and, hopefully, be adopted. The advantage of having a treecat as a constant companion has been demonstrated on a number of occasions by adoptees, and the Manticoran Palace Guard Service has long recognized the value of treecats as additional security “personnel.” With the growth of direct communications between humans and the ’cats and their mutual recognition of the benefits to each other, it would be reasonable to conclude that ’cats will, more and more, be integrated into the fabric of human society.

  NOTABLE TREECATS

  Far Climber of Bright Water Clan (Farragut)

  Far Climber of Bright Water Clan was one of the first wave of treecats to leave Sphinx and settle on Grayson. He formed an adoption bond with Miranda LaFollet shortly after arrival. He possesses a playful wit and a penchant for low humor, interacting with humans easily and comfortably. Far Climber is also one of the first treecats to learn the sign language developed by Doctor Arif.

  Golden Voice of Sun Leaf Clan (Samantha)

  Golden Voice is one of the very few female treecats, and the very first memory singer, to form an adoption bond. In addition, she is one of the only two memory singers ever to leave Sphinx. She originally bonded with George Tschu, an engineering officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy. During her and Tschu’s deployment on HMAMC Wayfarer, she met and mated with Laughs Brightly. After Tschu’s death at the Battle of Selkir Rift, she relocated to live with Laughs Brightly and Honor Harrington on Sphinx, where she gave birth to a healthy group of young.

  Golden Voice was instrumental in the decision of Bright Water Clan to send a “colony expedition” of eight other adult treecats to Grayson with her and her four kittens, marking the first emigration of the treecat species to another world. Since that time the Grayson treecat population has risen to a total of forty-two thanks to additional births and emigration.

  When Laughs Brightly returned from Cerberus with crippling damage to his telepathic transmitter, Golden Voice was influential in the work of Doctor Adelina Arif in teaching the treecats sign language. Golden Voice also formed a second adoption bond with Hamish Alexander-Harrington in 1919 PD, a highly unusual circumstance.

  Laughs Brightly of Bright Water Clan (Nimitz)

  Laughs Brightly was a member of the Bright Water Clan when he met and bonded with Honor Harrington, a young Sphinxian. His age at the time of adoption was approximately fifty T-years, making him a mature adult in his own right at the time of his adoption.

  During his and Harrington’s deployment on HMAMC Wayfarer, he met and mated with Golden Voice, fathering several healthy young treecats, who were later fostered with the clan that moved to Harrington Steading on Grayson.

  Laughs Brightly sustained injuries to his telepathic transmitter during his capture by Havenite and, later, State Security Forces after the Battle of Adler. Only on his return did anyone realize the extent of the damage. While he can hear the mind-voices of other treecats and still sense their mind-glows, his own mind-voice has been rendered mute. His injury was the catalyst that led to the development of treecat sign language.

  Leaf Catcher of Fire Runs Fast Clan (Ariel)

  Leaf Catcher bonded with a very young Elizabeth Winton on her state visit to Sphinx in 1880 PD, while she was still the Crown Princess. While smaller and younger than Laughs Brightly, he is in many ways far more mature (or at least sober), as befitting the bondmate to the woman the treecats call “Soul of Steel.”

  According to Leaf Catcher’s account, Clan memory singers had passed around images of Elizabeth Winton’s mind-glow to all of the clan members, and Leaf Catcher felt drawn to Elizabeth immediately. When the young Crown Princess arrived in Sphinx for her visit, Leaf Catcher appeared at the edge of the landing pad to meet her, and their bonding was nearly immediate.

  Sharp Claw of Moon Water Clan (Monroe)

  King Roger III was adopted during a visit to Sphinx in 1827 PD. Sharp Claw presented himself to the Crown Prince Roger, and they bonded almost immediately. Sharp Claw and Roger’s bond was shattered, however, when Roger was killed. After Roger’s death, Sharp Claw entered the withdrawal pattern common to treecats who have lost their bonded partner, declining all food and water as he withdrew ever inward toward extinction. When Major Padraic Dover attempted to murder Queen Elizabeth’s fiancé, Justin Zyrr, in his presence, however, Sharp Claw roused in Zyrr’s defense. In the fight which ensued, Dover was killed and Sharp Claw formed a new adoption bond with Zyrr, thus becoming one of the very few treecats ever to survive the death of a bonded human.

  Medusans

  Medusans, or “Stilties” as they are often known to Manticorans, are the native species of the planet Medusa in the Basilisk System. Medusan civilization is based on autonomous bronze age city-states, although significant nomad populations exist. While birthrates in the cities are much higher than among the nomads, a combination of high infant mortality rates and primitive notions of public health and sanitation have kept population relatively stable in the cities. Periodic respiratory plagues also contribute to this stability, and total planetary population is estimated at well under seven hundred million.

  PHYSIOLOGY

  Medusans are trilaterally symmetrical with three legs and three arms. A typical Medusan stands 2.3 meters tall, although they can settle to less than a third of that height on their unique, tripedal legs. Joints are all ball-and-swivel, as is common for most of the animal life-forms on the planet. Medusans have the ability to splay their legs out on the ground and ride out a wind storm, or pull them in and set up a gamboling trot that can outpace a human in Medusan gravity.

  Each arm ends in a six-fingered hand, of which three fingers form dominant graspers and three smaller fingers provide a remarkable ability to manipulate objects. Legs end in feet with three toes also capable of grasping objects. A Medusan can pick up a rock with one foot, spin, and hurl it with remarkable accuracy, and can move at full speed in any direction.

  The top of a Medusan’s body case has three eyes, one over each of the arms, with three olfactory spiracles above the eyes. The mouth is under one of the three hip joints, the primary excretory apparatus is below the hip joint clockwise from the mouth, and the third hip joint protects the cloacal sex organs.

  Medusan digestion obviates the need to cook most foods, as Medusans produce a strong “stomach acid” and expel it over their food, then massage it with their hands before squatting over it to eat it. Medusan culture elevates the touching and handing of partially digested food to other members of the social circle as a gesture of goodwill. They can go for longer periods without feeding than a human can, though they grow gradually more torpid as time passes.

  Mating drives, which occur near the end of summer, are triggered both by the length of the day and by availability of food. Females eat ravenously and grow thick around their upper carapace both to prepare for a pregnancy and to signal their readiness for mating. Males use semaphoric threat displays and prepare a large ritual meal.

  Medusan pregnancy is short, about a third of a local year, or nearly ninety T-days. They typically give birth to fraternal twins, and subsequent maturation is rapid. Sexual maturity occurs at eight local years (five T-years) and old age sets in at seventy local years (forty-eight T-years). Females are nearly impossible to distinguish from males unless they are preparing for mating.

  Medusans communicate primarily by semaphoric body language, supplemented by vocalization through their spiracles, with scent changes for emphasis. A human linguist has described the polyphonic Medusan language as “singing operas through sneezing.” Manticoran efforts to make a sign language system involved a holographic projector to overcom
e the shorthanded limitations of human physiology. A workable trade pidgin using two arms and exaggerated facial expressions and head motions has been in use since 1881 PD.

  CULTURE

  Prior to the arrival of humans, Medusan culture was dominated by nomadic grazers trading with city-states, with seven small clusters of city-states along marshlands and river deltas. The city-states trade worked metal, textiles, and other goods in exchange for wood and meat brought the nomads.

  Among Medusan nomads, tribal conflicts consist of constant low-intensity warfare. Inter-city conflicts are much more serious and intensive, using armies composed primarily of militia organized around a much smaller core of regular, standing troops.

  Medusan city-based culture was only an estimated seven or eight T-centuries old at the time of human contact, although this is far from certain. Turning an oral history of the birth of kings translated through semaphoric hand gestures into T-dates is fraught with speculation at best. The better analysis comes from carbon dating Medusan food storage pots.

  Medusans consider fire to be a primarily industrial application; they are well suited to the climates in which they live and need little protection from the elements and rarely wear clothing other than kilts and equipment harnesses.

  TECHNOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

  Medusan native technology had evolved to an ability to cast in bronze and copper alloys by the time of the planet’s initial contact with humans. Most Medusan public works are huge constructs of dressed stone and the buildings can reach impressive heights for a culture without counter-grav. Although the Star Kingdom of Manticore has been trying to regulate the flow of offworld goods and devices to prevent the loss of the original Medusan culture through technological upheaval, technology transfer is happening between the humans and Medusans.

  Prior to trade with off-worlders, the height of Medusan military armament was a form of bow, well suited to use from jhern-back, although it bore little resemblance to something a human could comfortably fire. Traditionally, Medusan foot soldiery used slings and stone-tipped spears, although bronze swords and spear and arrowheads were coming into use at the time of first contact.

  Most of Medusa’s flora is dominated by moss-like vegetation. Human residents on the planet refer to the entire planet as being covered in moss; this is only partially correct but, given humans’ limited interaction with the planet, it is not an unfair characterization. Following contact with humans, Medusan agriculture has advanced by leaps and bounds, and output per hectare has increased dramatically with the introduction of fertilizers, crop rotation, and improved cultivation techniques, which is helping to fuel a modest population explosion among the city-based culture.

  Manticoran efforts are underway to educate the Medusans in terms of technology, medicine, and public sanitation and hygiene, as well as issues in off-world affairs that may affect them. Manticoran schools for Medusans have full holographic communication suites and cover a wide range of topics. Medusan students may attend universities in the Manticore system within the forseeable future. While the process of bringing the Medusans into “interstellar adulthood” is ongoing, some issues cause friction. For example, while many Medusans would prefer to raze their Old Cities and build newer, more modern, durable, and comfortable cities, the Native Protection Agency is resistant to this idea, fearing that Medusan cultural treasures would be lost in the process.

  RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CROWN

  Medusa is held by the Medusan people, and all human enclaves are on T-century leases. The Star Kingdom has regulated contact with off-worlders much more tightly since the off-world-incited Mekoha Uprising in 1900. Following that incident and the First Battle of Basilisk, the Crown adopted an official policy under which Medusa may join the Star Kingdom as a member world or remain independent, following an eventual plebiscite. The creation of a coalition of city-states to act as the basis for a unified world government is a precondition for such a plebiscite, however, and it is uncertain if this will ever happen or if the Medusans even desire such an arrangement. Certain factions in the Manticoran Parliament also appear to be of two minds where the possibility of Medusan membership in the SKM is concerned, and most political analysts (and sociologists) estimate that it will be at least another thirty T-years—and probably much longer—before any such plebiscite might realistically be expected.

  The Royal Manticoran Navy

  The Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN) is a professional, career-oriented service. It began with only four small frigates, built in the Sol System for the Manticore Colony Trust of Zurich in 1389 PD, but has grown over the past five centuries into a potent fighting force with a solid core of ships of the wall supported by more numerous battlecruisers and smaller classes.

  Prior to the discovery of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction, the Royal Navy was primarily a system defense force, its main function being to guard the Manticoran home system and deter potential threats from the generally small power blocs in Manticore’s area of the galaxy. The expanding merchant marine and trade opportunities provided by the Junction required an equal expansion of the Navy and it grew into a powerful fighting and commerce protection force, although one that relied primarily on battlecruisers and lighter warships.

  That orientation changed in the mid-nineteenth century when King Roger III began his great buildup in response to the Havenite wars of conquest. The Navy expanded exponentially into what is by any measure the third largest navy in the galaxy. Due to an aggressive R&D program, it is also by far the most technologically advanced and has been at the cutting edge of several revolutionary changes in warfighting, most notably the advent of the pod-layer and multi-drive missile.

  Throughout its history, the RMN has maintained that the proper place for a naval officer to learn his trade is in space. While Saganami Island Naval Academy on Manticore is grueling and demanding, any line officer’s career truly begins after graduation. An Academy graduate typically spends at least the next four or five Manticoran years (seven to nine Terran years) almost continuously in space in one shipboard assignment after another. Initiative and independence are encouraged along the way, in a process which produces seasoned, highly-experienced ship-handlers who are intimately familiar with their weapons, their personnel, and their mission. Traditionally, ninety percent of all officers have been graduates of the Academy, but that percentage has dipped during the recent decades of expansion, with a higher percentage of “mustangs” (an ancient term whose origin is lost in obscurity), non-commissioned personnel promoted to commissioned rank. This is more common in the RMN than in many other navies, and one reason for the practice is that Manticore’s vast merchant marine, excellent education system, and extensive shipbuilding and orbital industries provide the Star Kingdom’s Navy with non-commissioned and enlisted personnel of outstanding competence and quality.

  Organization

  The RMN is administered by the Board of Admiralty, which consists of three civilian Lords of Admiralty and seven Space Lords. Broadly speaking, the Lords of Admiralty are responsible for formulating policy while the Space Lords are responsible for implementing those policies.

  The Lords of Admiralty are nominated by the Monarch, from a list of candidates selected by the Prime Minister. The final nominations must be confirmed by a majority vote in the House of Lords. The selection of the Space Lords follows the same procedure, nominated from a list provided by the First Lord of Admiralty.

  First Lord of the Admiralty

  Lord Hamish Alexander-Harrington, Earl White Haven

  The First Lord of the Admiralty is responsible for overall coordination of naval policy as directed by the Royal Council and the Crown. The First Lord acts as the de facto Minister of War for the Star Empire, and the senior uniformed commanders of the Navy, Marines and Army all report to him as the head of the senior Manticoran service through the Service Chiefs’ Committee.

  Second Lord of the Admiralty

  Liam Guernicke

  The Second Lord of the Admiralty is res
ponsible for budgetary and fiscal management and reports directly to the First Lord. The Second Lord has direct administrative oversight of the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of Weapons. The Second Lord is also called upon to work with Parliament during the annual budget review and has historically held the unenviable job of justifying the Navy’s ever-growing costs.

  Third Lord of the Admiralty

  Dame Jessica Orbach

  With an oversight role in the Bureaus of Personnel, Training and Medicine, the Third Lord of the Admiralty is responsible for the health and training of all Royal Naval personnel. She works closely with the Fifth Space Lord in particular to manage the growing manpower crunch that the Navy is experiencing as the war goes on.

  First Space Lord

  Admiral of the Green Sir Thomas Caparelli

  The First Space Lord, regardless of his actual rank, is considered the senior uniformed officer in the RMN and is responsible for the overall strategic direction, force structure management, and deployment of the Navy. Immediately under the First Space Lord’s direction are the Type Commanders (each an admiral charged with the management and training of a specific type of naval vessel) and the Strategy Board (consisting of the First, Second, and Sixth Space Lords plus the Type Commanders). Operationally, the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps also answers directly to the First Space Lord, although the Commandant of the Corps is seated with him and the Royal Army’s Chief of Staff on the Service Chiefs’ Committee.