Honorverse ramblings and musings

robert132 wrote:Actually the Queen does have a military force answerable to her ... The Royal Mantacoran Navy.

If the RMNs charter is anything like the old British Royal Navy had as it was explained (incorrectly?) to me years ago, it was signed by the founding Monarch and the Navy is answerable to the Monarch or whoever presently wears the crown. I don't believe the modern Royal Navy is an independent force anymore, but back in the days of its founding (Drake and before) it was answerable to the Monarch, not to Parliament and took its orders from him or her via the First Sea Lord, or sometimes directly (Drake again.)

Note that the British Army isn't referred to as the Royal Army. Why is this? And why is the Brit Air Force called "The Royal Air Force?" Is it a matter of the level of government that provided the Charter?

Hey! I'm a Yank, I plead ignorance.

I really need to hit the books on this subject.

Again, this is explicitly discussed in AoV. Elizabeth cannot have a personally raised, funded, and commanded military force.

Duckk wrote:

robert132 wrote:Actually the Queen does have a military force answerable to her ... The Royal Mantacoran Navy.

If the RMNs charter is anything like the old British Royal Navy had as it was explained (incorrectly?) to me years ago, it was signed by the founding Monarch and the Navy is answerable to the Monarch or whoever presently wears the crown. I don't believe the modern Royal Navy is an independent force anymore, but back in the days of its founding (Drake and before) it was answerable to the Monarch, not to Parliament and took its orders from him or her via the First Sea Lord, or sometimes directly (Drake again.)

Note that the British Army isn't referred to as the Royal Army. Why is this? And why is the Brit Air Force called "The Royal Air Force?" Is it a matter of the level of government that provided the Charter?

Hey! I'm a Yank, I plead ignorance.

I really need to hit the books on this subject.

Again, this is explicitly discussed in AoV. Elizabeth cannot have a personally raised, funded, and commanded military force.

Then I don't see a problem at all, since it wouldn't be a personally raised, funded, or commanded force.

I was expressly referring to Ariel's offspring, if Ariel were busy enough to have a "litter." So there's no need to entertain anything so formal, since Stephanie saw to it that treecats enjoy sentient status on all three Manticoran worlds. Which means that treecats are people. Heck, even treecats call themselves "the People."

And as people, certainly Ariel would be legally allowed to "raise" her own brood herself around and about the grounds of Mount Royal Palace, if she wants. It would be her legal right. And being bonded to Ariel, I don't think it would be too presumptuous of Beth to presume that any friends of Ariel's would also be friends of hers and certainly that any offspring of Ariel's would also be friends of hers. Heck, that any living treecat in existence would be friends of hers.

And that it likewise wouldn't be too presumptuous of her if she were to presume that if she were indeed under attack that there'd also be absolutely nothing presumptuous of her if she were... expecting to find...

"A little help from my friends. Trying with a little help from my friends."

And that there'd also be nothing presumptuous of her if she were to employ the human element and refer to Ariel's offspring as her little babies - Beth's own. And by inference, since she's the Queen...

"The Queen's Own."

cthia wrote:And as people, certainly Ariel would be legally allowed to "raise" her own brood herself around and about the grounds of Mount Royal Palace, if she wants. It would be her legal right. And being bonded to Ariel, I don't think it would be too presumptuous of Beth to presume that any friends of Ariel's would also be friends of hers and certainly that any offspring of Ariel's would also be friends of hers. Heck, that any living treecat in existence would be friends of hers.

And that it likewise wouldn't be too presumptuous of her if she were to presume that if she were indeed under attack that there'd also be absolutely nothing presumptuous of her if she were... expecting to find...

"A little help from my friends. Trying with a little help from my friends."

And that there'd also be nothing presumptuous of her if she were to employ the human element and refer to Ariel's offspring as her little babies - Beth's own. And by inference, since she's the Queen...

"The Queen's Own."

I think textev states Ariel is male.

Ariel is male

female treecats rarely bond. very rarely.

Samantha was the most recent we know about, though she was an extra special case being a memory singer.

cthia wrote:Then I don't see a problem at all, since it wouldn't be a personally raised, funded, or commanded force.

I was expressly referring to Ariel's offspring, if Ariel were busy enough to have a "litter." So there's no need to entertain anything so formal, since Stephanie saw to it that treecats enjoy sentient status on all three Manticoran worlds. Which means that treecats are people. Heck, even treecats call themselves "the People."

And as people, certainly Ariel would be legally allowed to "raise" her own brood herself around and about the grounds of Mount Royal Palace, if she wants. It would be her legal right. And being bonded to Ariel, I don't think it would be too presumptuous of Beth to presume that any friends of Ariel's would also be friends of hers and certainly that any offspring of Ariel's would also be friends of hers. Heck, that any living treecat in existence would be friends of hers.

And that it likewise wouldn't be too presumptuous of her if she were to presume that if she were indeed under attack that there'd also be absolutely nothing presumptuous of her if she were... expecting to find...

"A little help from my friends. Trying with a little help from my friends."

And that there'd also be nothing presumptuous of her if she were to employ the human element and refer to Ariel's offspring as her little babies - Beth's own. And by inference, since she's the Queen...

"The Queen's Own."

You said a "Protector's Own ... doing her bidding". That's a very specific type of unit with well delineated powers and responsibilities. Now they're something else entirely, apparently just a bunch of treecats that just happen to be lounging around. You're moving the goalposts.

Second, even if we go with your new definition of the unit, it still wouldn't fly. When humans thought treecats were just cute cuddly natives of Sphinx, it was no problem just letting them run about. Now that they're proven to be sentient and sapient, having them run around with absolutely no oversight - political, military, or otherwise - is insane. You can't have it both ways! Either they're people - in which case they'd be subject to the same rules and regulations as any other human in the Star Empire - or they're not - and thus have curtailed rights since they're animals. You can't just have them pull any kind of official duty, giving them orders, like you're suggesting, then brush your hands of any consequent responsibility.

Dauntless wrote:Ariel is male

female treecats rarely bond. very rarely.

Samantha was the most recent we know about, though she was an extra special case being a memory singer.

IIRC Samantha is one of seven female treecats to bond with anyone besides a SFS Ranger.

Also Nimitz and Samantha are the only mated pair to make both bonds.

Dauntless wrote:Ariel is male

female treecats rarely bond. very rarely.

Samantha was the most recent we know about, though she was an extra special case being a memory singer.

Wait, what? Ariel is a male???

After all this time that important fact escaped me???

It is because my mind hypers back to a time in High School when I dated an Ariel who was named after her grandmother. There's even a Disney character named Ariel, the Little Mermaid. A very lovely Ariel too. Both of them. So every time I read Ariel, my brain parses female and I recall camping trips and weekend beach stays, cuddling and... stuff.

I checked and Ariel is one of those unisex names like Sam.

I can't believe... my apologies anyways. It isn't as bad as when I found out that the tooth fairy isn't real... but darn.

as mentioned above female bondings are rare. of those 95% bond with a SFS ranger.

to my knowledge the only bonded female to have gone off world is samantha

Dauntless wrote:as mentioned above female bondings are rare. of those 95% bond with a SFS ranger.

to my knowledge the only bonded female to have gone off world is samantha

Intuitively, rangers would have two-legs up (LOL) on every other human when figuring the odds of getting bonded.

One-leg) They enjoy much more contact with treecats.

Two-leg) I would imagine that rangers are natural animal lovers. They are the people who as little kids were always bringing home a stray dog or stray cat. Who would chase after most any animal, weren't afraid of snakes and spiders and drove their parents crazy with every manner of animal kept in a shoe box. They graduated from ant farms in the first grade. Their mind-glows would have been loving toward treecats. Full of awe.

"WOW! What a pretty cat!"

IOW, rangers naturally have an overabundance of love for animals and would have broadcasted the same ECM toward treecats in the forest even before they realized that they were sentient beings, iuam (if you ask me).

I'm sure that Honor is the only human who has acquired extra abilities per her bond. Not sure but ISTR that the other treecats could sense this deeper exchange between the two. Now where am I going with this? That would infer that Ariel senses it as well.

If the ability is developed by other bonded pairs I wonder if they would be allowed to be near Beth since they can sense her emotions, thus when she isn't being truthful, for starters?

Seems politicians would have it rather difficult in the Honorverse...

"My treecat says your a lying sack of rotten celery!"