Honorverse ramblings and musings

George J. Smith wrote:Did Michael and Judith have any children other than Ruth?

I'd guess no, given Mike Henke's position in the succession order, and that none have ever been mentioned. I think any biological children of Elizabeth's brother would be ahead of Elizabeth's first cousin.

drothgery wrote:

George J. Smith wrote:Did Michael and Judith have any children other than Ruth?

I'd guess no, given Mike Henke's position in the succession order, and that none have ever been mentioned. I think any biological children of Elizabeth's brother would be ahead of Elizabeth's first cousin.

Which does not preclude (in a prolong society), that this will always be the case..

In Storm from the Shadows Mr Weber states at the end of An Authorial Note

"And I suppose I should also warn you that the ride is going to get a lot rougher for the good guys over the next few books."

Storm from the Shadows was published in March 2009 so it was after BOM in At All Costs (published November 2005) and before Yawata Strike/Oyster Bay in Mission of Honor (published June 2010).

BOM2 in A Rising Thunder (published March 2012) was one-sided as far as casualties were concerned, so other than Yawata Strike/Oyster Bay, just what is Mr Weber referring to?

YS/OB was mentioned as an asside in SftS as well as being one of the foci of MoH, is that what he means when he says "the next few books" or is there something really really ominous (as in more deaths of favourite characters) lined up for the good guys?

And how does it all fit into wrapping up the current arc in 2(3) more books?

I like scouring the wiki for little known facts, to me.

Nimitz was named after Admiral Chester Nimitz. Admiral Nimitz' wife's maiden name was Harrington.

Also, does anyone know why Speaks Falsely bears his name. I haven't read Treecat Wars yet, so if it's in there, my apology, but I'd still like to know.

My impulse tells me it has something to do with him telling untruths. But treecats can't really tell lies, empaths know.

Stephanie was born on the planet Meyerdahl on January 7, 1507 PD, the only child of Richard Harrington and his wife Marjorie. She was extremely intelligent, her test scores placing her squarely in the top per mil of the entire human race.

Damn, Stephanie was off the mensa scale!

Treecats don't generally bond with adolescents. Yet the first cat bond was with an 11-yr-old, who was fascinated by Stephanie and her mind glow.

It happened again with young 11-yr-old Honor. In short order it was said that Dances on Cloud's mind glow was approaching Stephanie's in strength.

I think the cats prefer a high IQ. No one wants a dummy in their head all of the time, not even cats. Prejudice against dummies? Byng and Santino would never have been bonded.

Bonding to a human occurred, rapidly and with little warning on either side; the result is initially startling, if generally welcome, to the human—especially to the human's friends and family were not from Sphinx. The imprinting phase lasted for several minutes and could last as long as 30 minutes. This was demonstrated by the treecat rubbing its muzzle against the adoptees cheek with the treecat purring and crooning and the human going into a trance like state. After the pair came out of the trance like state, it would take several months to as long as a T-year or more for the bond to completely settle out. During this time and especially in children the adoptee would carry the treecat everywhere and refuse to put the treecat down. The bond became so close that strong emotions (rage, fear, anguish, etc.) in the human partner could often be detected in the treecat partner's body language and stance. Very strong emotions in the human could even incapacitate a bonded treecat.

We all know what happens when a bonded cat/human pair suffers a death. I wonder what happens if death occurs within that first intense 30 minutes. And I wonder what happens to a human's emotions who have just fallen madly in love. There doesn't seem to be any room left for obsessive cat bondings. Two obsessions simultaneously?

I really think something like intense bonding happens between humans. Ever heard about "Love at first sight?" Then, "I can't keep my hands off of her!"

A treecat's crooning, such as when Samantha crooned, purred for Nimitz' loss gives a new meaning to "Music hath charm to "soothe" the savage beast."

cthia wrote:

Stephanie was born on the planet Meyerdahl on January 7, 1507 PD, the only child of Richard Harrington and his wife Marjorie. She was extremely intelligent, her test scores placing her squarely in the top per mil of the entire human race.

Damn, Stephanie was off the mensa scale!

Treecats don't generally bond with adolescents. Yet the first cat bond was with an 11-yr-old, who was fascinated by Stephanie and her mind glow.

It happened again with young 11-yr-old Honor. In short order it was said that Dances on Cloud's mind glow was approaching Stephanie's in strength.

I think the cats prefer a high IQ. No one wants a dummy in their head all of the time, not even cats. Prejudice against dummies? Byng and Santino would never have been bonded.

Not necessarily. Both the bright mind-glow and the high intelligence might simply be effects of something else. Specifically, the Meyerdahl genemod. One of the things included in the Meyerdahl mod was an attempt at higher intelligence. The Winston's have a different genemod, but it includes the same or similar intelligence enhancer. There have been a number of other attempts at intelligence enhancers, mostly with little positive (and often with negative) success.

Characters in the books have speculated that this specific enhancer makes both Winston's and Harrington's more appealing to treecats. It also appears to have been at least partially successful in producing fairly intelligent people.

So I would say that it is not just anyone with high intelligence that appeals to treecats--it is a particular gene sequence which happens to both produce intelligence and bright auras.

cthia wrote:

Stephanie was born on the planet Meyerdahl on January 7, 1507 PD, the only child of Richard Harrington and his wife Marjorie. She was extremely intelligent, her test scores placing her squarely in the top per mil of the entire human race.

Damn, Stephanie was off the mensa scale!

Treecats don't generally bond with adolescents. Yet the first cat bond was with an 11-yr-old, who was fascinated by Stephanie and her mind glow.

It happened again with young 11-yr-old Honor. In short order it was said that Dances on Cloud's mind glow was approaching Stephanie's in strength.

I think the cats prefer a high IQ. No one wants a dummy in their head all of the time, not even cats. Prejudice against dummies? Byng and Santino would never have been bonded.

SWM wrote:Not necessarily. Both the bright mind-glow and the high intelligence might simply be effects of something else. Specifically, the Meyerdahl genemod. One of the things included in the Meyerdahl mod was an attempt at higher intelligence. The Winston's have a different genemod, but it includes the same or similar intelligence enhancer. There have been a number of other attempts at intelligence enhancers, mostly with little positive (and often with negative) success.

Characters in the books have speculated that this specific enhancer makes both Winston's and Harrington's more appealing to treecats. It also appears to have been at least partially successful in producing fairly intelligent people.

So I would say that it is not just anyone with high intelligence that appeals to treecats--it is a particular gene sequence which happens to both produce intelligence and bright auras.

Not necessarily. Fair enough.

But. As you said, it's just speculation.

Although Elizabeth shares the same sequence, Hamish doesn't. Hamish was just intelligent. Harold Tschu was just intelligent. Certainly Rachel and Miranda didn't share that gene sequence.

If I only have one poker chip left and had to bet, I'd bet on the high IQ. I don't think the cats are much interested in how or why their mates have a high IQ, just that they do. Cats just don't want to be bonded with someone dumb as a bunch of pop rocks.

And I'll agree that there are other considerations as well; textev implies as much. Like good hygiene, Cats, no doubt, have a keen sense of smell, which rules out Crandall. No drug addicts. No cowards - rules out Pavel. *No criminals - rules out pirates. And probably no one allergic to celery!

I think Occam's razor is in order here.

*Can you imagine a treecat bonding with a pirate, suffering an eye injury and wearing a patch?

"Arrrgh!," would be his battle cry.

cthia wrote:"cthia"]

Treecats don't generally bond with adolescents. Yet the first cat bond was with an 11-yr-old, who was fascinated by Stephanie and her mind glow.

SWM wrote:Not necessarily. Both the bright mind-glow and the high intelligence might simply be effects of something else. Specifically, the Meyerdahl genemod. One of the things included in the Meyerdahl mod was an attempt at higher intelligence. The Winston's have a different genemod, but it includes the same or similar intelligence enhancer. There have been a number of other attempts at intelligence enhancers, mostly with little positive (and often with negative) success.

Characters in the books have speculated that this specific enhancer makes both Winston's and Harrington's more appealing to treecats. It also appears to have been at least partially successful in producing fairly intelligent people.

So I would say that it is not just anyone with high intelligence that appeals to treecats--it is a particular gene sequence which happens to both produce intelligence and bright auras.

Not necessarily. Fair enough.

But. As you said, it's just speculation.

Although Elizabeth shares the same sequence, Hamish doesn't. Hamish was just intelligent. Harold Tschu was just intelligent. Certainly Rachel and Miranda didn't share that gene sequence.

If I only have one poker chip left and had to bet, I'd bet on the high IQ. I don't think the cats are much interested in how or why their mates have a high IQ, just that they do. Cats just don't want to be bonded with someone dumb as a bunch of pop rocks.

-------------------

Remember -- Scott McDallen in "The Stray" -- no identified Gene-Mod, but he WAS a Scot !!

as the bumper sticker says "England Forever, Scotland just a wee bit longer !!"

-- Stewart

cthia wrote:

SWM wrote:Not necessarily. Both the bright mind-glow and the high intelligence might simply be effects of something else. Specifically, the Meyerdahl genemod. One of the things included in the Meyerdahl mod was an attempt at higher intelligence. The Winston's have a different genemod, but it includes the same or similar intelligence enhancer. There have been a number of other attempts at intelligence enhancers, mostly with little positive (and often with negative) success.

Characters in the books have speculated that this specific enhancer makes both Winston's and Harrington's more appealing to treecats. It also appears to have been at least partially successful in producing fairly intelligent people.

So I would say that it is not just anyone with high intelligence that appeals to treecats--it is a particular gene sequence which happens to both produce intelligence and bright auras.

Not necessarily. Fair enough.

But. As you said, it's just speculation.

Although Elizabeth shares the same sequence, Hamish doesn't. Hamish was just intelligent. Harold Tschu was just intelligent. Certainly Rachel and Miranda didn't share that gene sequence.

If I only have one poker chip left and had to bet, I'd bet on the high IQ. I don't think the cats are much interested in how or why their mates have a high IQ, just that they do. Cats just don't want to be bonded with someone dumb as a bunch of pop rocks.

And I'll agree that there are other considerations as well; textev implies as much. Like good hygiene, Cats, no doubt, have a keen sense of smell, which rules out Crandall. No drug addicts. No cowards - rules out Pavel. *No criminals - rules out pirates. And probably no one allergic to celery!

I think Occam's razor is in order here.

Occam's razor actually argues in favor of it being the aura of the person which attracts treecats. And the treecats have said so themselves.

The treecats don't test a person's intelligence before they bond with them. In fact, often times they have never met the person before; they have no idea how intelligent the person is.

So the question is what makes the aura so attractive that it causes a treecat to bond. It cannot be merely intelligence; we have seen quite a few highly intelligent people who have never attracted a treecat companion, even when the opportunity arose. I suggest that it is something in the genetics, and I think Occam's razor would support this. I'm not saying that it is only this gene mod that does it; I'm saying that it is genetic, and that this genemod happens to include it.

SWM wrote:So the question is what makes the aura so attractive that it causes a treecat to bond. It cannot be merely intelligence; we have seen quite a few highly intelligent people who have never attracted a treecat companion, even when the opportunity arose. I suggest that it is something in the genetics, and I think Occam's razor would support this. I'm not saying that it is only this gene mod that does it; I'm saying that it is genetic, and that this genemod happens to include it.

"Happens to" bears emphasizing there. No geneticist knows squat about mind-voices and auras, and it's had zero selection pressure in human evolutionary history behind it either. Maybe distinctive auras (absent special circumstances, like what made Hamish or Prince Justin attractive) are riding on some other mental traits or combination of them that humans could identify, or maybe it's riding on things we can't - assuming there's much of it on the nature side at all and not the nurture one. (The fact that you can get adoptable based on how you are now, like Hamish or Justin, suggests it could all be on the nurture side. The Harrington and Winton family environments, after all, are exceptional as much as their genes.)

For that matter, there's little reason to suppose there's a really satisfactory explanation that could be given by hypothetical future treecat psychologists either. The bonding experience reads like a miracle, like falling in love in a blinding, transcendent instant, and our explanations of why we fall in love with a particular person at a particular time aren't entirely satisfying. Sometimes, often, we even like it that way.