Neufsteiler, Willard
CFO, Grayson Sky Domes, Ltd.
Willard Neufsteiler was originally Honor Harrington’s financial manager. By 1912 PD, he moved to Grayson and took over as Grayson Sky Domes’ full-time chief financial officer.
Oversteegen, Michael
Rear Admiral of the Red, Royal Manticoran Navy
Michael Oversteegan, fourth in the line of succession for the Barony of Greater Windcombe, is son to Baron High Ridge’s second cousin. In 1918 PD, as a captain (jg), he commanded the heavy cruiser HMS Gauntlet at the Battle of Tiberian, for which he was promoted to captain (sg) and received the Manticoran Cross. After repairs, his ship was deployed to Erewhon to “show the flag.” In early 1920 PD, he and his crew took part in the liberation of the planet Verdant Vista (aka Congo) and assisted in establishing the Kingdom of Torch. In 1921, he received command of HMS Nike (BC-562) and participated in the Battle of Solon.
Ramirez, Jesus
President, Republic of San Martin
Jesus Ramirez, as the senior surviving officer of the San Martin Navy, inflicted three times his own losses on the People’s Navy during his ultimately unsuccessful defense of his home system when People’s Republic attacked Trevor’s Star in 1883 PD. He was believed to have been killed in the battle until Harrington’s escape from Hades brought him home, along with over a quarter-million other prisoners.
On his return to San Martin he was drafted without consultation into running for president. All but one opponent withdrew from the race and he received eighty-six percent of the vote.
Ramirez, Tomas Santiago
Major General, Royal Manticoran Marine Corps
Tomas Santiago Ramirez, a native of San Martin, is the son of President Jesus and Rosario Ramirez. He, his mother, and siblings escaped on the last transport before San Martin was conquered by the PRH. As a result, he grew up with a deep and abiding hatred of Haven. Ramirez has led an exemplary career, including positions as assault commander for the Blackbird Raid in 1903 PD and later as executive officer of the Allied occupation forces on his homeworld of San Martin, following its liberation from the People’s Republic.
After his father’s return from Hades, Ramirez resigned his Marine commission to become the commander of his homeworld’s reconstituted army. Following Jesus Ramirez’s election as president and San Martin’s admission to the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the integration of its armed forces into the Star Kingdom’s, Tomas Ramirez returned to the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps with the rank of major general. In 1920, Major General Ramirez was assigned as chief of staff to the Commandant of the Corps.
Reynaud, Michel
Admiral, Astro Control Service
Commanding Officer, RMAIA
Michel Reynaud, as a captain in the Royal Manticoran Astro-Control Service was CO, Basilisk Traffic Control, in 1900 PD at the time of the Basilisk Incident. In 1903, he was promoted to rear admiral, and in 1910 he was promoted to vice admiral, continuing to command Basilisk ACS. Promoted to admiral in 1915, he became the first commanding officer of the Royal Manticoran Astrophysical Investigation Agency in 1916, where he continues to serve after the successful navigation of the Lynx Terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction.
Sarnow, Mark
Admiral of the Red, Royal Manticoran Navy
Mark Sarnow commanded Battlecruiser Squadron Five in 1903 PD. During the First Battle of Hancock Station, Rear Admiral of the Red Sarnow was severely wounded. He was the only flag officer in the task force to survive the battle, but he lost both legs at the knee and suffered internal injuries. After an extensive medical rehabilitation period on Manticore, during which he served as an instructor at Saganami Island, Sarnow returned to fleet duty as the commanding officer of Grendelsbane Station. In 1911, he was promoted to vice admiral and became the CO of the RMN’s Naval War College, where he was responsible for major revisions in RMN convoy and commerce protection doctrine following HMAMC Wayfarer’s Silesian deployment. In 1913, Sarnow was relieved at the War College and selected to command the diversionary attacks designed to clear the way for Hamish Alexander’s Operation Buttercup, in which role he performed brilliantly. In 1915, he was placed on half-pay by the Janacek Admiralty but was one of the first flag officers recalled by the Alexander Admiralty. He is currently CO of 9th Fleet and governor of the Silesian Sector in the Queen’s name.
Summervale, Lord Allen, Duke Cromarty (deceased)
Prime Minister, Star Kingdom of Manticore
Allen Summervale was the longtime leader of the Centrist Party. The Duke of Cromarty served as King Roger III’s Prime Minister and continued in that role for Queen Elizabeth III. Over the course of his fifty-eight T-years as Prime Minister, he worked with both Roger III and Elizabeth III to prepare for what he realized would be a long, difficult war against the People’s Republic of Haven. Gifted at balancing the interests of opposing political factions and possessed of great personal charisma, he managed to guide the government through the successive crises of the most dangerous periods of the First Havenite War.
He and several other influential political figures were killed on 19 February 1915 in the destruction of HMS Queen Adrienne in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth III. Because much of his governing coalition was based on personal loyalty, it fell apart and was replaced by the High Ridge Government.
Summervale, Denver (deceased)
Denver Summervale, a distant cousin of the Duke of Cromarty, was a former Marine captain who was cashiered from the Corps for killing a brother officer in a duel. In 1905 PD, he was hired by Lord Pavel Young to induce first Paul Tankersley and then Honor Harrington into challenging him to a duel. Tankersley died, but Summervale was killed during his subsequent duel with Harrington.
Tankersley, Paul (deceased)
Captain (SG), Royal Manticoran Navy
Paul Tankersley began the war as a junior grade captain and the executive officer of the repair base at Hancock Station, where he and then-Captain Honor Harrington became lovers. After the Battle of Hancock Station, he was promoted to captain of the list and returned to Manticore, where he was assigned as a deputy constructor on HMSS Hephaestus. He was killed in a duel by Denver Summervale, a hired duelist in the employ of Pavel Young.
Terekhov, Sir Aivars Aleksovitch
Commodore, Royal Manticoran Navy
Aivars Terekhov began his career in the RMN, but after eleven T-years moved to the Foreign Office where he served for twenty-eight T-years. He returned to active duty at the start of the war and, as captain of HMS Defiant, was taken prisoner in the Hyacinth System after a convoy under his light cruiser division’s escort was ambushed. After the truce, he returned to Manticore as part of a prisoner exchange and spent an extended period at Bassingford Medical Center rehabilitating and regenerating.
In 1920 PD, he was assigned to command HMS Hexapuma and directed to join the Manticoran squadron in the Talbott Cluster. He and his crew intercepted and captured several pirates and, in the course of suppressing terrorist activities in the Split and Montana Systems, uncovered an interstellar conspiracy to sabotage the Constitutional Convention. Terekhov assembled an ad hoc squadron and led an unauthorized incursion into the Monica System, which was clearly implicated in the conspiracy, to disrupt the delivery of modern warships to the Monican Navy. Although his squadron sustained serious losses, he destroyed three operational Monican battlecruisers and all those still being refitted for Monican service at Eroica Station. For his actions he was awarded the Parliamentary Medal of Valor, promoted to commodore, and given command of CruRon 94, attached to Tenth Fleet in the Talbott Quadrant.
Tremaine, Prescott David
Captain (SG), Royal Manticoran Navy
David “Scotty” Tremaine was assigned to HMS Fearless (CL-56) in 1900 PD as a boat bay control officer. During Fearless’ deployment to Basilisk, Ensign Tremaine first met PO Horace Harkness when the two of them were assigned to customs enforcement. Tremaine provided primary air support for Fearless’ Marines on Medusa. Promoted to lieutenant (jg) in 1901, he was assigned to HMS Troubadour in 1902 and survived that ship’s destruction during the Second Battle of Yeltsin. Following Second Yeltsin, he was assigned to HMS Prince Adrian and promoted to lieutenant (sg) in 1905. In 1910, he was transferred to HMAMC Wayfarer as flight operations officer. In 1911, promoted to lieutenant commander, he served as Honor Harrington’s staff electronics officer in CruRon 18 and was among the POWs who accompanied her to Cerberus. After serving as CO, ENS Krashnark, in the Battle of Cerberus, he returned with Harrington to Trevor’s Star and was promoted to full commander in 1914, when he was assigned as COLAC in HMS Hydra. Promoted to captain (jg) in 1917, he served as COLAC for HMS Werewolf in Task Force 34 for the Battle of Sidemore in 1918. Promoted to captain (sg) in 1920, he served as COLAC of CarRon 3 in Eighth Fleet.
Truman, Dame Alice
Vice Admiral of the Red, Royal Manticoran Navy
Alice Truman was born into a family with a long and distinguished history in the RMN. By 1902 PD, Commander Truman was the commanding officer of HMS Apollo and served as Honor Harrington’s second-in-command at the Battle of Blackbird, where her ship was severely damaged. After the engagement, she evacuated Manticoran wounded and nationals and alerted the Admiralty of the desperate need for reinforcements at Yeltsin’s Star. In 1910, she accepted command of the armed merchantman Parnassus and participated in Commodore Harrington’s anti-piracy operations in the Silesian Confederacy. In 1912, she received command of HMS Minotaur and proved the LAC carrier concept at the Second Battle of Hancock Station. She then commanded the LAC-carriers assigned to Eighth Fleet for Operation Buttercup. Like many, she was placed on half-pay by the High Ridge Government Admiralty, but on Harrington’s insistence, she was returned to command the LAC-carrier task group in Task Force 34 during the Second Battle of Marsh. Once more designated to command Eighth Fleet’s LAC-carriers in 1920, she became Harrington’s second-in-command when Harrington assumed command of that fleet.
Van Dort, Bernardus
Minister without Portfolio, Talbott Quadrant
Bernardus Van Dort, a native of Rembrandt, was the founder, majority shareholder, and chairman of the Rembrandt Trade Union, as well as the primary moving force behind the Talbott Cluster’s request for annexation by the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Van Dort is currently a minister without portfolio in the new Talbott Quadrant government.
Venizelos, Andreas (deceased)
Commander, Royal Manticoran Navy
Andreas Venizelos, as a lieutenant in 1900 PD, was the tactical officer on HMS Fearless (CL-56) and commanded the RMN personnel assigned to Basilisk Traffic Control. In 1902, as a lieutenant commander, he served as the executive officer on HMS Fearless (CA-286), and in 1905 was promoted to commander and served as CO, HMS Apollo. In 1911, as Honor Harrington’s chief of staff in CruRon 18, he was one of the officers captured and taken aboard PNS Tepes and was killed during the escape from that vessel.
Wanderman, Aubrey
Senior Chief Petty Officer, Royal Manticoran Navy
Aubrey Wanderman joined the RMN after leaving Mannheim University, where he was a physics major. He finished second in his training class and was assigned to HMAMC Wayfarer as an electronics technician. In 1920, SCPO Wanderman was assigned to HMS Hexapuma at the time of the Battle of Monica. He is currently assigned to HMSS Weyland’s fabrication and materials division.
Webster, Lord Sir James Bowie, Baron New Dallas (deceased)
Fleet Admiral, Royal Manticoran Navy (retired)
Ambassador to the Solarian League
James Webster took command of Home Fleet as First Space Lord in 1903 PD. As one of the many officers placed on half-pay by Sir Edward Janacek, Admiral Webster became a military analyst for the Opposition. The Grantville Government named him ambassador to the Solarian League, where he orchestrated a remarkably successful public relations campaign on behalf of the Star Kingdom and the annexation of the Talbott Cluster until his assassination in 1921 PD.
Webster, Samuel Houston
Rear Admiral of the Green, Royal Manticoran Navy
Samuel Webster began his career as a communications officer, serving alongside Honor Harrington on multiple occasions, including his first hyper-capable command, HMAMC Scheherazade in 1909. As a Rear Admiral of the Red, he commanded Battle Squadron 16, TF 34, at the Battle of Sidemore in 1918. Promoted to Rear Admiral of the Green in 1920, he is currently attached to BuWeaps as Admiral Sonja Hemphill’s senior departmental commander.
Winton, Elizabeth Adrienne Samantha Annette
Queen Elizabeth III, Star Kingdom of Manticore
Empress Elizabeth I, Star Empire of Manticore
Elizabeth Adrienne Samantha Annette Winton is the sixteenth monarch of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Born the year Basilisk was annexed, she was named Duchess of Basilisk in 1867 PD on her first birthday. She became Queen at age eighteen, after the untimely death of her father. Although there have been rumors for many years that the death of King Roger III was more than a simple grav skiing accident, no proof has ever been made public. Ably assisted by her Aunt Caitrin (serving as her regent), the Duke of Cromarty (as her prime minister), and her Uncle Jonas (at BuWeaps), Elizabeth continued and expanded her father’s labors to prepare the Star Kingdom for war against the People’s Republic of Haven. From 1905, with the outbreak of active hostilities, until Operation Buttercup in 1914, Elizabeth led her star nation to a point of decisive military superiority over the PRH.
Following the destruction of HMS Queen Adrienne and the death of Allen Summervale in February 1915 PD, she was unable to convince the Opposition to agree to an all-parties government to fight the war to a conclusive victory. Despite her opposition, Baron High Ridge formed a coalition government which excluded the Centrists and Crown Loyalists and accepted Saint-Just’s offer of a truce. When hostilities resumed with Haven in 1918, High Ridge asked her permission to form an all-parties government after all, in a bid to spread the blame for the disaster. Elizabeth, in an unprecedented decision, refused his request. Following the High Ridge Government’s inevitable fall, she summoned William Alexander to form a new government and agreed to the division of the Silesian Confederacy between the SKM and Andermani in order to bring Emperor Gustav XI into the Manticoran Alliance against Haven.
Elizabeth Winton was adopted as a teenager by a treecat that she named Ariel. The treecats refer to her as “Soul of Steel.” Elizabeth Winton’s fiery temper is famous (or infamous, depending upon one’s perspective), and she has a long memory for those who have wronged her, her family, or those she holds dear. She is also extremely loyal to people who serve the Star Kingdom well.
She is married to Justin Zyrr-Winton, a common-born native of Gryphon. Their children are Crown Prince Roger and Princess Joanna. She and Prince Consort Justin are two of Raoul Alexander-Harrington’s godparents.
Winton, Crown Prince Roger Gregory Alexander Timothy
Roger Winton is the Crown Prince of Manticore and the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth III and Prince Consort Justin. He is currently engaged to Rivka Rosenfeld.
Winton, Lady Judith Newland, Duchess Winton-Serisburg
Judith Newland Winton is the daughter of Grayson merchants who were killed when their ship was taken by Masadan pirate Ephraim Templeton. She was taken by Templeton as his youngest “wife” at age twelve. She kept her literacy a secret out of fear, but Templeton’s eldest wife, Dinah, realized she was literate and inducted her into the Sisterhood of Barbara, a secret resistance organization among Masadan women. Judith routinely hacked into the computers on Templeton’s ships and taught herself to operate a starship. To save the life of her unborn daughter, she and Dinah led their “chapter” of the Sisterhood in the capture of one of Templeton’s ships and escaped from Masada to Manticore in 1892 PD, with the assistance of Midshipman Michael Winton, then crown prince of Manticore and serving in HMS Intransigent. In 1894, Michael married her and adopted her daughter Ruth. Her past became public only after Grayson and Manticore became allied, at which time she became a national heroine on Grayson.
Winton, Prince Michael, Duke Winton-Serisburg
Rear Admiral of the Red, Royal Manticoran Navy
Michael Winton, the younger child of King Roger III and Queen Consort Angelique, was crown prince until the birth of Elizabeth III’s children. He entered Saganami Island, the Royal Manticoran Navy’s academy in 1888 PD, specializing in communications. In 1892 he was assigned to HMS Intransigent for his midshipman’s cruise and was part of the diplomatic team sent to Masada. He assisted the members of the Sisterhood of Barbara, led by Dinah Templeton and Judith Newland, in their escape from Masada. Two years later, he proposed to Judith and married her, adopting her daughter Ruth. He continued his active service career, specializing in R&D with occasional diplomatic assignments. In 1914 he was promoted to commodore and became the commanding officer of BuShips Cyber and Communications Command. Although not placed on half-pay by the Janacek Admiralty, he refused to serve the High Ridge Government and voluntarily went on inactive duty, serving primarily as his sister the Queen’s personal envoy to members of the Manticoran Alliance. In 1919, promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red, he returned to Cyber and Communications, which he currently commands.
Winton-Henke, Lady Caitrin, Duchess Winton-Henke, Dowager Countess Gold Peak
Caitrin Winton-Henke, younger sister of Roger III and wife of Edward Henke, the Earl of Gold Peak, is the mother of Calvin and Michelle Henke and Queen Elizabeth III’s aunt. She served as Queen Elizabeth’s regent from the time of her brother’s death until Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday and was instrumental in Elizabeth’s continuation and expansion of Roger’s program of naval expansion. Upon the termination of the regency, she served as one of Elizabeth’s senior councilors. When her husband became Foreign Secretary in the Cromarty Government, Caitrin was often selected as one of Elizabeth’s personal diplomatic representatives. Following Gold Peak’s death aboard HMS Queen Adrienne in 1915 PD, Caitrin largely withdrew from any official government role, although she remained one of Elizabeth’s most trusted personal advisors. As Dowager Countess Gold Peak, she acts as her daughter Michelle’s representative in the House of Lords and steward in Gold Peak, but the majority of her time is devoted to her role as CEO of the Edward Henke Memorial Trust, a charitable foundation set up by the House of Winton in her late husband’s memory to assist and support the children and families of personnel serving in the Manticoran armed forces.
Young, Lord Dimitri, Earl North Hollow (deceased)
Dimitri Young, father of Pavel and Stefan Young, was a commander in the RMN before he inherited his title, resigned, and went into politics. He was reputed to have compiled blackmail information on a great many people and to have used it to maintain power through political extortion. He was extremely obese and required a life support chair for mobility. When the court-martial board announced his son Pavel’s conviction and sentence, he died of a stroke.
Young, Lady Georgia Sakristos, Countess North Hollow
Georgia Sakristos worked for Dimitri Young as a security advisor, assistant and female companion. After Pavel Young became Earl, she remained in his employ, although there is some speculation she may have been involved in some of the machinations that led to his death. After Pavel’s death, she married Stefan Young and was selected by Baron High Ridge to chair the Conservative Association’s Policy Coordination Committee. After the destruction of the North Hollow mansion, she disappeared.
Young, Lord Pavel, Earl North Hollow (deceased)
Pavel Young was the eldest son of the Earl of North Hollow. At the Academy, he was issued a reprimand for sexually harassing Honor Harrington. He was relieved of command following the Battle of Hancock and placed under arrest for cowardice under fire. At his court-martial, he was found guilty of the non-capital charges against him and was dishonorably dismissed from the RMN. He attempted to have Honor Harrington killed via duel by proxy and by assassination, before he was himself challenged and killed by Harrington in a duel.
Young, Lord Stefan, Earl North Hollow
Minister of Trade, Star Kingdom of Manticore (retired)
Stefan Young became Earl after his older brother, Pavel, was killed by Honor Harrington in a duel. As the Earl of North Hollow, he was the only peer who actively opposed giving Honor Harrington command of the Q-ships to be deployed to the Silesian Confederacy. In the High Ridge Government, he was Minister of Trade but retired and went into relative seclusion after the destruction of his Landing mansion and the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Lady Georgia Sakristos Young.
Zilwicki, Anton
Captain (JG), Royal Manticoran Navy (retired)
Anton Zilwicki, a native Gryphon highlander, has a background in naval construction with a specialty in technical evaluation. After his wife Helen died in action against PN raiders, defending a convoy that included Zilwicki and his young daughter, he transferred to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). While he was stationed on Old Earth and working for the ONI, his daughter Helen was kidnapped. In direct violation of orders to leave the entire investigation in Old Earth hands, he appealed to Lady Catherine Montaigne for help from the Audubon Ballroom and found himself working in collaboration with an agent of the PRH, Victor Cachat. Placed on half-pay for violating orders, he adopted Berry and Lars, who had aided Helen on Old Earth, returned to Manticore, opened an investigation company, became Montaigne’s lover, and continued to represent the Anti-Slavery League. With the creation of the Kingdom of Torch, he became Queen Berry’s senior intelligence analyst.
Zilwicki, Helen Angela (deceased)
Captain (JG), Royal Manticoran Navy
Helen Zilwicki, a native of Manticore, was an active member of the Anti-Slavery League. She was married to Anton Zilwicki and was Helen Zilwicki’s mother. In 1904 PD, she commanded the badly outgunned naval escort for a convoy that was ambushed in hyper-space by a PN force. She sacrificed herself and the escort to protect the convoy, which contained over six thousand Naval technicians and their families, including her husband and daughter. For her actions she was posthumously awarded the Parliamentary Medal of Valor.
Zilwicki, Helen Antonia
Ensign, Royal Manticoran Navy
Helen Zilwicki is the daughter of Anton and Helen Zilwicki, and the adoptive sister of Lars Zilwicki and Queen Berry I of Torch. At age fourteen, she was kidnapped on Old Chicago, where she met and rescued two orphans, Lars and Berry, before the rescue of all three of the children by members of the Audubon Ballroom and the Havenite agent Victor Cachat.
Zilwicki was assigned to HMS Hexapuma for her midshipman’s cruise and took part in the Battle of Monica. Despite her very junior rank, she was specifically requested by Commodore Terekhov as his flag lieutenant for his redeployment to the Talbott Quadrant.
Zyrr-Winton, Prince Justin
Prince Consort, Star Kingdom of Manticore
Justin Zyrr, a native of Gryphon, and Crown Princess Elizabeth III met when she was touring his research lab. They were engaged when she succeeded to the Crown in 1883 PD after the death of her father, Roger III. Zyrr helped Elizabeth investigate Roger’s death. Roger III’s treecat, Monroe, defended Zyrr’s life and created a bond with him shortly after Roger’s death. Zyrr’s children with Elizabeth are Crown Prince Roger and Princess Joanna.
Nonhuman Sentient Species
The Star Empire of Manticore counts among its inhabitants two of the twenty-seven sentient nonhuman species discovered to date: the Sphinxian treecats and the Medusans. Like the Barthoni, treecats are one of the few nonhuman species to have established a multiple planetary presence, with small colonies on Grayson and Gryphon in addition to their native Sphinx. The Medusans remain limited to their planet of origin in the Basilisk system.
As a result of treecat-human bondings and the presence of treecats in the courts of several generations of Manticoran monarchs, the Sphinxian treecats now enjoy legal status as citizens of the Star Kingdom and the acceptance of most of her Majesty’s subjects. However, they enjoy that citizenship only in the status of minor children, and until they began to communicate directly with humans through sign language, even many Manticorans dismissed them as intelligent animals rather than a true sentient species.
The Medusans, on the other hand, have had less exposure to the other members of the Star Empire and have, at times, found themselves the subject of uneasiness and ambivalence.
Treecats
Treecats are the native sentient species of Sphinx. As such, they are considered citizens of the Star Empire, albeit with protected status.
PHYSIOLOGY
Treecats are hexapedal like all of Sphinx’s indigenous mammals. ’Cats are built long and lean, somewhat along the lines of a Terran ferret or weasel crossed with a lemur monkey. They average about sixty centimeters in body length or about one hundred thirty centimeters overall, including their tails. Their foremost limbs end in well-developed “true-hands,” each with three fingers and a single opposable thumb. Their mid-limbs end in similar “hand-feet” that are considerably stronger but less agile, and their rearmost limbs end in “true-feet” that have toes, rather than fingers. All digits are tipped with retractable claws, approximately one centimeter in length. These claws are scimitar-shaped and formed of extremely dense, hard material, resembling terrestrial sharks’ teeth much more than they do the claws of terrestrial cats. The back edge of each claw is extremely sharp, which turns them into quite lethal weapons. It is uncommon for a ’cat to shed a claw, but it can happen. When it does a new claw grows to replace it.
Treecats are covered in thick, fluffy coats that grow in three separate layers. The two outer layers are subject to seasonal variations in length and thickness, with a shedding process governed by a temperature-sensitive biological mechanism, and a treecat’s full winter coat is almost twice as bulky as its summer coat. The outer surfaces of treecat tails are also very fluffy, but many people do not realize that those tails are actually flat, with a bare, leathery “gripping” surface on the “bottom.” Under normal circumstances, powerful muscles keep the tail curled into a tube, showing only the outer, furry side. The tube relaxes into its flattened state in order to allow the ’cats to attain secure holds on limbs and branches that may be wet or coated in ice.
Treecats have definite muzzles, cat-like ears, and round heads that appear somewhat too large for their bodies in comparison to terrestrial cats. Their heads resemble that of a terrestrial bobcat or wildcat but with sharper muzzles, higher foreheads, and no tufts to the ears.
Male treecats are universally gray in color, although there are gradations from ’cat to ’cat within that color range. This coloring allows them to blend well with the various colors of picketwood bark. Males also tend to be about fifteen to twenty percent larger than females and, unlike females, grow darker bands around their tails as they age. These “tail rings” make it possible to estimate a male’s age with a fair degree of accuracy. The first ring appears at about four Sphinxian years of age and a new band appears every Sphinxian year thereafter.
In addition to being smaller than males and possessing no tail rings, females have dappled coats patterned in brown and white. This coloring allows them to blend in with the leaf-and-sunlight patterns of the upper branch level of the picketwood.
Treecats are similar to Terran mammals in that they give birth to live young. Multiple births are the norm for treecats. A treecat litter will contain three to seven treekittens, with an average of four being typical. The gestation period is approximately four and a half T-months (thirteen and a half T-weeks).
TELEMPATHY AND TELEPATHY
While many suspected that treecats were true, functional telempaths, the theory was unproven until 1914 PD, when Dr. Adelina Arif developed a sign language to enable direct human-treecat dialogue. Among themselves, treecats are also telepaths, which is undoubtedly how they managed to attain a high level of societal and cultural integration without ever developing the concept of a spoken language. They do use a few recognizable audio signals, such as cries of alarm, but other than that, they communicate directly mind-to-mind. The combined emotional aura and deliberate transmission of thoughts is what a treecat means by the term “mind-glow.” To a treecat, another treecat appears as a bright beacon of emotion at all times. The transmission of thoughts, however, is a deliberate act.
Although it is normally accompanied by what might be thought of as “sideband transmissions” that deliver a great deal of additional, often subtle, information, a treecat’s “mind-voice,” unlike the emotional portion of his mind-glow, operates only when he chooses.
By human standards, ’cats are not naturally innovative. While they are problem solvers, they tend to solve specific problems without generalizing to other applications of the solution. This leads to a highly stable society and technological level, yet they are capable of making sudden, enormous intellectual leaps as a consequence of the existence of “memory singers.” Female treecats’ mind-voices are normally stronger than those of males, but a very small number of females also possess the telepathic equivalent of eidetic memory. Able to actually experience and reproduce the remembered thoughts and actions of other ’cats, these memory singers become their clans’ repositories of history and knowledge. In addition, because a memory singer can pass actual experiences from one treecat to another, they are capable of transmitting new knowledge or new techniques throughout the entire ’cat population with astonishing speed.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Treecats are organized into “clans.” These are extended communities of closely related families that share a common range and the responsibilities of maintaining, expanding, and protecting their clan as a whole. Within any clan there are clearly differentiated responsibilities and tasks. Clans and their ranges tend to be extremely stable. In some cases a clan has maintained the same range literally for centuries. Because they are primarily carnivorous, the population density for any given clan range must be carefully maintained. Upon occasion, increases in population will force an expansion of a clan’s range, although the more normal consequence is for the excess population to migrate outside the original range and establish an entirely new, though still closely related, clan.
Treecats seldom mate outside their own clans, although it does happen upon occasion. When it does, the male half of the mated pair normally becomes a member of his mate’s birth clan. That pattern is not always followed, however, and whichever way it works out, the “moving” mate is readily adopted into and assimilated into his or her mate’s clan.
Treecats mate for life. The union between two treecats is a telempathic as well as a physical one. The individual mind-glows of both halves of a mated pair grow considerably “brighter” and stronger than they were prior to the mating. Once a pair has mated, they become permanent parts of one another in a way that other individual treecats do not. Indeed, they are uncomfortable if circumstances part them. This need not rise to the level of acute pain, so long as both know the parting will be only temporary, but it is a source of stress and unhappiness during the period of separation. If one half of a mated pair dies, however, it is far more common than not for the other mate to follow into death. This may be the result of active suicide (although this is rare) or the result of what might be thought of as terminal depression. The surviving mate gradually sinks into a state of withdrawal in which he or she neither eats nor drinks until, eventually, death results. The most common countervailing influence is the existence of relatively youthful treekittens. The mind-glows of a ’cat’s children will sometimes pull the surviving parent out of that dark death spiral.
Treecats who have adopted humans do not normally mate. In most cases, they may form temporary, primarily physical, attachments with other ’cats during their periodic return visits to their clan’s home range, but the permanent mating bond is normally foreclosed by the strength and power of the treecat-human bond of adoption. According to the Sphinx Forestry Service, Nimitz and Samantha are the only mated pair both bonded to humans.
The rearing and education of treekittens, once they are old enough to begin exploring their world, is a communal experience. Adult ’cats, both male and female, contribute to incorporating the ’kittens into the social structure of the clan.
Because of their telempathic abilities, treekittens are familiar with their mother’s mind-glow before they are born. This was believed to be the case once those telempathic abilities were recognized by humans and was subsequently confirmed by Dr. Arif from her discussions with Samantha and with ’cats on Sphinx. It is believed that, much as human babies take time to learn to speak, the growing ’kittens develop the ability to use their mind-voice over time.
TECHNOLOGY
Treecats are tool-users and fire-users, although the use and control of fire in an arboreal civilization poses certain obvious challenges and threats. Prior to contact with humanity, treecats made tools out of bone, wood, and stone, and wove fabrics and ropes out of the Sphinxian equivalent of hemp and also out of their own shed coats. Although clothing was never necessary for them, they created carry nets, tents, pillows, cushions, and similar textile items.
Following the establishment of contact with humanity and especially after the formation of the Sphinx Forestry Service, more sophisticated tools became available to treecats. By and large, especially during the period when treecat intelligence remained a hotly debated topic, efforts were made to prevent them from developing a dependency on humans for tools. Efforts concentrated on teaching them to make new tools out of the materials they’d always used rather than handing out “trade axes” which they would be unable to replace themselves.
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CROWN
Treecats are legally considered citizens (albeit as minor children) of the Star Empire and have been since 1568 PD with the passage of the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. By the same enactment, they hold permanent title to over one-third of the land area on Sphinx. Although it took over eighty T-years, that status as citizens was completely resolved by the passage of the Treecats Rights Bill in 1651. A subsequent decision by the Queen’s Bench Court, the highest court in the Star Kingdom, in 1685 forever banned any legal challenge to the treecats’ status as citizens. The Royal Manticoran Navy’s regulations state that a treecat bonded to a serving member may not be separated for his or her adopted human. This applies to all ranks and all situations, including training.
In 1911 PD, a group of treecats from the same clan as Nimitz asserted that they wanted to emigrate to Grayson. Although the Sphinx Forestry Service opposed the move, the ’cats made it clear that they did not want to be “saved” by the SFS, and the move was allowed. After the RMN declined to provide transport, the ’cats were brought to Grayson on Lady Harrington’s private yacht. An additional small colony from the same clan was recently established in Alexander-Harrington’s duchy on Gryphon.
While adoptions have been occurring at a limited rate since 1518 PD, when Lionheart adopted Dame Stephanie Harrington, only in the last few years have most Manticoran citizens truly understood the intelligence level of the ’cats. This was due, at least in part, to a conscious policy of the treecats to downplay their own capabilities. Following the work of Dr. Arif, the ’cats have demonstrated a growing “comfort” in allowing humans to understand their level of intelligence. There appears to be a growing understanding among the treecat clans of the potential threat posed to the ’cats existence by warfare among humans. Some human researchers believe that the decision to emigrate to Grayson and Gryphon may have been one response to this understanding by the treecats, a fact that seems to be borne out by Dr. Arif’s continuing discussions with the ’cats on Sphinx.
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 overcome 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.