History WMG / HonorHarrington

* [[spoiler: 1 will, 1 will not While Shannon gets a LoveInterest and a Cat and a new friend in Hempril.]]

** No... he'll end up commanding the Talbott Guard's ''cavalry'' forces. Not Armored Cav or Airborne Cav. Horses. [[CrazyAwesome Just because.]]

*** [[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima Death by a thousand cats!]]

* As of ''Mission of Honor'' it's confirmed. Also, given that transit time from Gregor to Potsdam is not that large, I doubt that anybody would beat around the bush and not get Gustav XI involved.
** I expect the Andermani will get involved (again) eventually, but it's going to be a tough sell. Of course, they also had an improbable assassin that fits with the known assassins altered by the Alignment.
*** Not that tough, IMNSHO. These guys might be somewhat self-serving, but stupid they aren't. Their self-serving nature is actually ''advantageous'' to Manticore at this point -- they "love" League no more their neighbors do, so alliance against Sollies is salable by the same logic as against Peeps. If they were willing to risk fighting one conqueror encroaching on their turf, why they should cop out when the other one appears? BTW, remember Benjamin musing about Solly reaction to the Grayson personnel aboard Manticoran warships when the shit hits the fan? Andies are basically in the same position.
*** Additionally, it's pretty clear that Mesa assassinated one of the Emperor's family (the Crown Prince, IIRC) so if the Alliance can convince them of that fact ("This is a mission for Victor Cachat!") then they should be easy to bring on board.

* Sorry to disappoint, but if This Troper remembers correctly, Weber is personally against the idea, at least for now. And to further complicate the matter, 'cats themselves do not generally care for the organized warfare. However good fighters they could be, [[HumansAreWarriors their very society is not well suited to the regular military]]. And most of them are rather ambivalent to space (Nimitz notwithstanding). If one could really organize 'cats they'd make ''fantastic'' [[SpaceMarine Marines]], but I couldn't imagine putting a 'cat through The Crusher.

*** We seem to have a conflict of definitions here. In modern understanding, or at least usage, under which you seem to be laboring, marines are essentially a rapid reaction ''army'' units, not dissimilar to paratroopers etc -- a relatively small and lightly armed, but highly trained force specialized in small-to-mid-scale, high-intensity conflicts, and they are used accordingly. I couldn't remember any real large-scale amphibious landings for at least three last decades, anyway. In Honorverse, on the contrary (or, at least, it seems so to me), marines are less these elite infantry units and more ''special forces'' -- there are relatively few of them on each ship, and all real Marine action we see in the novels are quick commando-style operations, not securing a beachhead or something like that. And as for efficiency of 'cats as commandos -- I think the novels speak for themselves. ;)

*** But what about ''armored'' treecats? ;)

*** Paul Tankersley had built several skinsuits for Nimitz essentially as a hobby project in his spare time, and officers don't have much of it, really. ;) And there are two major PoweredArmor types in Honorverse -- one is essentially a souped-up skinnie, with some protective plates and muscle fibers added, so it's neither difficult to produce (see above), nor would it limit 'cat's mobility etc. Heavy PA (read Astartes/Elemental type) is another kettle of fish, and adapting it for 'cats would indeed need a major design effort, but why should it limit their effectiveness I really don't see. Remember, we're talking about the civilization, that routinely defends against massive RKV attacks -- which would require FTL computing, to be realistic. Why couldn't this civilization built a PA for the species with slightly quicker reaction than humans -- I don't get. And from pure engineering standpoint, the shorter the limb the easier are quick and accurete movements, so designing a quick-acting PA for 'cats should be actually ''easier'' than for humans.

*** The ThemeNaming, I believe, is just a Flint's AuthorAppeal -- after all, it was Flint who made Kevin Usher a movie buff. ;) And it's explicitly said to be a rare and peculiar hobby, so to make this connection alone would require a rather unorthodox mind and a great deal of luck. And the point of problems with deep penetration still stands, I think.
*** On the point of it taking a rather unorthodox mind and a great deal of luck... Didn't you just mention that Kevin Usher was a movie buff? Y'know, the guy in charge of Haven's internal security? And one of Pritchart's most trusted advisors? For that matter, I seem to recall Victor Cachat having picked up the hobby off of Usher, and Honor herself having atleast a passing interest in it (she set up a movie festival on Grayson at one point). I find it highly unlikely that once the RF turns up, ''one'' of that lot won't notice, especially if they (as suggested elsewhere) sign up with the Grand Alliance.

Let's do the math, here: There are 1000 F, G, and K class stars within 100 light-years of Earth, meaning that there would be 1,000,000 within one thousand--the radius of the explored galaxy in the Honorverse. In that volume there are "about a dozen" known sentient species. About 10% of stars in the galaxy are these classes, so if we take a conservative estimate of the number of stars in the galaxy, 100,000,000,000/10*12/1,000,000=120,000. There should be 120,000 sentient species in the Honorverse' Milky Way. Yes, they can "only" go some 40,000 times the speed of light, but still, we should have bumped up against someone more advanced than we are by now. Did the Alphanes kill them all? Or is whatever happened to the Alphanes the fate that awaits all sentient life in the Honorverse? (When I brought this up at the Honorverse wiki, someone said that there were more than a dozen sapient species in the Honorverse--which, if true, only makes things ''worse!'')

Hmmm. I better stop. The drool's starting to threaten to spatter on my keyboard.

* What I like to see (and I think will be seeing) is Renaissance Factor rearing its head with all the fanfare, only to be stomped to dust by Haven, as they steamroller the entire Solarian League. If anybody has the technology, population, industry and the will to do it post-Oyster Bay, it is the Republic, and Tom Theisman would probably gleefully dismantle every single plan Mesa had ever concocted and every hope they had.

* The Mesan Alignment intends to destabilize the Solarian League and grow its Renaissance Factor out of the chaos to take its place. Manticore's plan, as proposed by Honor, is to destabilize the Solarian League into smaller forces which could be dealt with individually (either diplomatically or militarily) in order to avoid being squished by the sheer mass of the unimaginably larger Solarian League as a whole. I strongly suspect we will see the SL fracture, with some groups more closely allied with Mesa and some with Manticore. Then they will fight it out.

* So you're saying they'll develop [[IncrediblyLamePun some sort of]] [[Franchise/SpiderMan Spider-Sensor]]?
** Yes. And it will tingle.
* I had a thought on this earlier: Spider drive works by grabbing the hyper wall with massively powerful tractor-beams right? (go re-read that bit in Mission of Honor if you want to check) And grav-pulses are detected faster than light because they ripple along that hyper wall right? Well, seems not unreasonable to me that while a Spider drive might not produce a grav pulse along the hyper wall, they might just create regions of that wall which don't propagate grav-pulses correctly. Maybe which even cause pulses to reflect back towards where they came from. Kinda like how big hunks of metal reflect electro-magnetic waves back in the vague direction of where they come from. Which for the benefit of any laymen who've wandered in is exactly how radar works IRL.

* I prefer Shannon and Scotty. The hot-shot "fighter" pilot and the tech-geek :).

[[WMG:The Mesan Long-Range Planning Board is really the [[Literature/{{Foundation}} Second Foundation]].]]
They try to shape the long-term political makeup of the entire galaxy. They surreptitiously implant programs into people that override their normal behavior. They're so secret that only a handful of people even know they exist. They were put into place by visionaries many centuries ago. They are masters of an esoteric science that can make people better than normal. And just when you think you have them figured out, you might discover that you were playing right into their hands. If that ain't Hari Seldon's psychohistorians to a "T", then I don't know who is.

Several plot elements from ''On Basilisk Station'' turned out to be ChekhovsGuns, such as Dame Estelle Matsuko, Denver Summervale, and Honor being convicted in absentia by a Havenite court. I have no idea what role they will play, but I think they will play one.
* Space Ghurkas/Maoris perhaps?

* The SLN is a paper tiger if you either part of the Grand Alliance, the Anderman Empire or the Mesan Alignment. The rest of the known universe is still pretty much fucked if they piss of the SLN. And pissing of the SLN at the current state might be...fatal. Especially if either of the afore mentioned powers is not going to lift a finger to save a bunch of orbit bombing mass murderers. There might however still be somebody who's simply stupid enough to push it. As a matter of fact, if somebody does it, I can see the Grand Alliance enforcing the EE too.

* That would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, especially after the example of [=McBryde=]. The Detweilers already foresee problems with the coverup for Houdini because some of the people being evacuated are bound to disagree with their neighbors and friends not on the list being nuked to cover their escape, as has been confirmed in ''Cauldron of Ghosts''. Doing it to the whole planet would create a whole army of potential [=McBrydes=]. I could see them doing it on a small scale (one or two explosions in the right place...) but large-scale destruction of Mesa would be self-defeating.

Specifically, they will attempt to frame the SLN for Edict violations against the GA worlds. If it worked, it would cripple the GA for years, while turning public opinion against the League, possibly followed by the downfall of the current Solarian government. Of couse, I doubt it will work out for them all...

Take a look at any decent map of the Honorverse. Notice what is at the bottom? Earth and the Solarian League. But WordOfGod and common sense say that the whole of the Honorverse is larger than that. There are no doubt several major regional powers on the far side of the Solarian League, probably with their own feuds and reasons to fight. I don't think there have been any major wars over there, otherwise we'd have heard about them, but maybe nobody's bothered to mention the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (and accompanying LensmanArmsRace) between the Ambrosian Union and the Commonwealth of Typhon. And if they haven't been actively fighting, nobody might have realized that the Ambries and the Typhies have independently developed some of the same tech as Manticore and Haven... and some of the tech they haven't. Think about all the advancements the United States and the Soviet Union made in naval technology during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.

* There will be a ship named ''Francesca Simoes''. Because what better to symbolize the evil of the Alignment than an innocent girl casually killed because she didn't fit into their grand plan, reincarnated as a pod-laying superdreadnought? I could actually see it being a Beowulfer ship.

** I would much rather see a Hacking/MMA variant of Chess-Boxing between Zilwicki and Harkness

* You ''do'' enjoy playing CaptainObvious, don't you? ;)

Honestly, this isn't so much WMG as CaptainObvious in some ways. A major subplot of ''Cauldron of Ghosts'' is the execution of Houdini, and [[spoiler:the extremely harsh measures the Alignment has taken to protect the operation's secrecy - splitting families and relationships and going so far as to have the evacuees escorted by "bodyguards" who have orders to kill their charges if they come into danger of falling into enemy hands or the operation otherwise comes into danger of being exposed - have had the effect of turning at least Zachariah Mc Bryde, the brother of Jack Mc Bryde, against the Alignment. Once he reaches the onion's secret base/homeworld, it's almost certain that he's going to be pushed that last little bit into full-on treason and start looking for a way to spill the beans to the Grand Alliance.]]

* ''Uncompromising Honor'' [[spoiler:has the Alignment outright framing Manticore for the explosions, leading to the Solarian League trying to use it to drive public opinion against the Manticorans.

** Also, it's heavily implied (if not outright stated) in 'Mission of Honor' that the leaders of the Renaissance Factor, who are all described as being exceptionally accomplished people in various arts and sciences as well as responsible, intelligent, liberal-minded political leaders, are among the most highly regarded public figures in the Solarian League. It's entirely possible that when the Factor first makes its appearance, many people in Manticore and Haven will take it at face value as an effort by the League's real best and brightest to bring something worthwhile out of the destruction and chaos, particularly if they position themselves in utter opposition to the former regime.

* As of the end of Shadow of Victory, [[spoiler: Albrecht nuked all of the Mesan Alignment operatives that were still on Mesa when Mike entered orbit, including himself and his wife. Their pet newsy, Audrey O'Hanrahan, is busy going "Hmm, I wonder who set let off all those nukes".]]

Given O'Hanrahan's reputation, if she says the Solarian commander screwed up people will believe her. My only question is whether her superiors will let her cover the story accurately or if they'll demand she slant her coverage.

* So you're saying they'll develop [[IncrediblyLamePun some sort of]] [[{{Spider-Man}} Spider-Sensor]]?

** Actually it's not so much that the edict doesn't apply to police actions as the edict doesn't apply to military targets. The edict is actually pretty limited in scope, it basically says that you are not allowed to use WMDs indiscriminately against civilian targets. It's perfectly acceptable to use them against military targets and if doing so inflicts civilian casualties then that's the fault of the defender for parking his military near to civilians (so long as the attacker made a reasonable effort to minimize the effect of the strike outside the immediate military area. So in the case of a rebellion a town that is occupied by rebel military a forces is arguably a legitimate military target under the edict. Obviously attacking it with a WMD is still a really awful thing to do but it's not specifically a violation of the edict.

[[WMG:Honor Harrington is a [[{{Exalted}} Dawn Caste.]]]]