History Headscratchers / VorkosiganSaga

* RealLife Athos is a very strict male ''[[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox]]'' monastery[[note]]The monks don't even let any woman to set a foot on the mountain itself, not mention the monastery grounds.[[/note]] on the eponymous mountain in Greece, so it stands to reason that the original population of the respectively named CultColony would be Orthodox and/or Greek as well. Instead, the Athosian names in the book are far more varied -- Janos sounds vaguely Hungarian, Urquhart is Scottish, etc. The thing is, men from these non-Orthodox places would be unlikely to name their cult colony after an Orthodox monastery.

** Well, why? It means that group that founded Athos should knew about monastery and their approach to women. Let's say it's not something mystic or hidden. At least, we can definitely say that said Cult wasn't Orthodox (just look at their culture, with approved non-marriage same-sex unions!).

* Nervous systems are replaceable, limbs and organs can be grown in vitro for transplant, functional sex change is routine and all kinds of other medical marvels - but gestation and childbirth - natural processes - are 'too dangerous'.
** Sure they are. For starters, a substantial amount of pregnancies end in miscarriages, even in relatively healthy women, risking the health of the mother. There's all kinds of medical issues that routinely come up during pregnancy, not to mention childbirth. And, while most or all of them can probably be dealt with, if you have a safer option - to say nothing of not having to endure mood swings, morning sickness, high blood pressure and the general discomfort of having an ever growing child pressing on your bladder and squashing your internal organs, with a painful delivery to look forward to at the end of ''nine months of this'' - why ''wouldn't'' you take it?

*** I agree uterine replicators are more convenient and pleasant. It is the demonization of body birth as some kind of horrible risk - under ultra modern medical conditions mind you - that I object to.
*** It's probably worth noting that the characters we see specifically being violently against body-birth - Cordelia, Alys, Ekaterin, and Miles - have all very specifically encountered serious issues that would have been avoided given the use of a uterine replicator over a body-birth. We actually see Cordelia's violent mental rejection of body-birth after the soltoxin incident. Other characters might be less vehement about it.

** Well, yes - gestation and childbirth, especially childbirth are dangerous. Natural life is dangerous, actually, that's why we rely on tech in the first place!
* In some of the later-written books (''Barrayar, A Civil Campaign,'' and ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'') it's assumed that having a contraceptive implant is standard for women and hermaphrodites on most planets except Barrayar. The implant is required on Beta Colony, but very common in most other galactic civilizations. However, in ''Shards of Honor'', seventeen of the Escobaran and Betan female soldiers abused by Vorrutyer and his officers end up pregnant. Cordelia even includes herself in that category. When contemplating the uterine replicators, she muses to Aral, "One of those canned kids might have mine and Vorrutyer's, or mine and Bothari's." This seems strange, since in ''Barrayar'' (which takes place right after ''Shards'', though it was written like five years later) Cordelia tells Drou that she had to have her contraceptive implant removed before she and Aral could conceive Miles. Even if you assume that Serg and Vorrutyer had Elena Visconti's implant removed specifically so they could have a pregnant victim, the other Barrayaran officers probably wouldn't do likewise (or even think to do so- contraceptive implants are probably not common on Barrayar at this point, given Drou's concerns about getting pregnant with Kou). So how did sixteen Escobaran/Betan women end up pregnant? If the implants are as widely used as we assume, doesn't that seem like a very high failure rate? The inconsistency about Cordelia's likelihood of getting pregnant is the most baffling, unless LMB hadn't yet thought up the contraceptive implant as a technology required for all women on Beta.
** In Shards, Vorrutyer explicitly says he plans to send Cordelia to sickbay later. Given Serg's pregnant woman fetish, this was presumably to remove their contraceptive implant so they could be impregnated. If we posit that Bothari and Vorrutyer were not the only participants in the abuse of female prisoners, the other pregnancies make sense. It would also make sense that the other fathers were all dead, as they would likely have been serving on Vorrutyer/Serg's flagship when it was destroyed.

!! Ethan from Athos
* RealLife Athos is a very strict male ''[[OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox]]'' monastery[[note]]The monks don't even let any woman to set a foot on the mountain itself, not mention the monastery grounds.[[/note]] on the eponymous mountain in Greece, so it stands to reason that the original population of the respectively named CultColony would be Orthodox and/or Greek as well. Instead, the Athosian names in the book are far more varied -- Janos sounds vaguely Hungarian, Urquhart is Scottish, etc. The thing is, men from these non-Orthodox places would be unlikely to name their cult colony after an Orthodox monastery.

** This is just probably Cordelia's observation. That is, I doubt Lady Vorpatril has ever said "I expect Aral to be like a father to Ivan," but her behavior leads Cordelia to suspect this as a motive. If Lady Vorpatril is always pestering Cordelia for Aral's intervention, then this isn't something that Miles would necessarily know.

*** It's probably worth noting that the characters we see specifically being violently against body-birth - Cordelia, Alys, Ekaterin, and Miles - have all very specifically encountered serious issues that would have been avoided given the use of a uterine replicator over a body-birth. Other characters might be less vehement about it.

* During Piotr's funeral reception, Cordelia complains to Miles, "Ever since Lord Vorpatril died she (Lady Vorpatril) has been expecting him (Aral) to stand in loco parentis to that idiot Ivan," especially with regard to not harassing servant girls. The way Cordelia says it makes it sound like Lord Vorpatril's death is recent. But in ''Barrayar'', written a few years later, Lord Padma Vorpatril died the night of Ivan's birth. Cordelia's comment could simply be exposition so new readers know that there is a close relationship between the Vorpatrils and Vorkosigans, but it feels jarring if you read ''Barrayar'' before ''Warrior's Apprentice''.

** The novel has explicit statements, mostly via Ethan's mental asides, that there has been immigration to Athos during much of the history of the colony on Athos, just not that much of it.