Background terribly significantly during the period 725-1273 PD, although The first manned interstellar ship departed the Solar System the ability to pick suitable targets for colonization (courtesy of on September 30, 2103. Although no other ship followed for the FTL survey crews) improved enormously. almost fifty years, 2103 CE, became accepted as Year One of the Diaspora, and January 1 of that year became January 1,01 The best speed possible in hyper prior to 1273 PD was about PD for purposes of interstellar dating. fifty times light-speed, a major plus over light-speed vessels but still too slow to tie distant stars together into For over seven centuries after the Prometheus Figure 1 any sort of interstellar community. It was sufficient became the first manned starship, FTL movement to allow establishment of the oldest of the currently remained impossible, leaving generation ships Star Hyper existing interstellar polities, the Solarian League, (followed in the fourth century PD by the Type Limit consisting of the oldest colony worlds within development of practical cryogenic hibernation 0 49.60 LM approximately ninety light-years of Sol. vessels) as the only means of long-distance B 33.42 LM interstellar expansion.The original starships A 28.75 LM The major problem limiting hyper speeds was used fairly straightforward reaction drives with F0 26.42 LM that simply getting into hyper did not create a hydrogen catcher fields to sustain boost after the F1 25.98 LM propulsive effect. Indeed, the initial translation into initial onboard reaction mass was exhausted. Later F2 25.54 LM hyper was a complex energy transfer which reduced generations attempted more esoteric propulsion F3 25.1 OLM a starship's velocity by"bleeding off" momentum. systems, but though they graduated to fusion F4 24.66 LM In effect, a translating hypership lost approximately and photon drives, they remained locked into the F5 24.20 LM 92% of its normal-space velocity when entering sublight reaction principle until 725 PD, when F6 23.76 LM hyper.This had unfortunate consequences in the first crude hyper drive was tested in the Solar F7 23.32 LM terms of reaction mass requirements, particularly System. F8 22.88 LM since the fact that hydrogen catcher fields were F9 22.44 LM inoperable in hyper meant one could not replenish The interface between normal and hyper-space was GO 22.00 LM one's reaction mass underway. On the other hand, speed-critical, for if velocity at hyper translation G1 21.56 LM the velocity bleed effect applied equally regardless exceeded .3 c, the translating starship was G2 21.12 LM of the direction of the translation (that is, one lost destroyed. In addition, a hypership had to reach G3 20.68 LM 92% of one's velocity whether one was entering the hyper limit of a star's gravity well before it could G4 20.24 LM hyper-space from normal-space or normal-space enter hyper, and the hyper limit varies with the G5 19.80LM from hyper-space), which meant that leaving hyper spectral class of the star, as shown in Figure 1. G6 19.36LM automatically decelerated one's vessel to a normal- G7 18.92 LM space velocity only 08% of whatever its velocity had The original hyper drive was a man-killer. The G8 18.48LM been in hyper-space. This tremendously reduced the casualty figures over the first fifty years of hyper G9 18.04LM amount of deceleration required at the far end of a travel were daunting. Worse, vessels which were KO 17.60LM hyper voyage and so made reaction drives at least destroyed were lost with all hands, which left no K1 17.15 LM workable. record of their fates and thus offered no clue as to K2 16.72LM the causes of their destruction. Eventually, however, K3 16.28LM Since .3 c (approx. 89,907.6 km/sec) was the it was determined that most had probably been lost K4 15.84LM maximum velocity at which an "upward"translation to one of two phenomena, which became known as K5 15.40LM into hyper-space could be made, the maximum "grav shear"and "dimensional shear" (violent energy K7 14.52 LM initial velocity in hyper-space was .024 c (or 7,192.6 turbulence separating hyper bands from one K8 14.08 LM km/sec). Making translation at speeds as high as another). Once this was recognized and the higher K9 13.64 LM .3 c was a rough experience and not particularly hyper bands were declared off limits, losses due to MO 13.20LM safe. The loss rate at .3 c was over 10%; dropping dimensional shear ended, but grav shear remained M1 12.76 LM translation velocity to .23 c virtually eliminated ship a highly dangerous and essentially unpredictable M2 12.32 LM losses in initial translation, and, since the difference phenomenon for the next five centuries. Despite M3 11.88LM in initial hyper velocity was less than 1,700 KPS, that unpredictability and continuing (though M4 11.44LM most captains routinely made translation at the lower) loss rates, hyperships'FTL capabilities made M5 11.00 LM lower speed. Even today, only military commanders them the vessel of choice for survey duties and M6 10.56LM in emergency conditions will make upward other low-manpower requirement tasks. Crews M7 10.12 LM translation at .3 c. There is no safe upper speed of highly paid specialists willing to accept risky M8 09.68 LM on "downward"translations. That is, a ship may employment conditions were enlisted for survey M9 09.24 LM translate from hyper-space to normal-space at any work and for the early mail packets, but the loss R. Giant 05.64 LM hyper-space velocity without risking destruction. rate continued to make any sort of interstellar (Which is not to say that the crews enjoy the bulk commerce impractical and insured that most Multiply LM by 7.5 experience or that it does not impose enormous colonists still moved aboard the much slower but to get operational wear and tear on hyper generators.) Further, more survivable cryogenic ships. As a consequence, hexes. translation from one hyper band to a higher band the rate of advance of colonization did not increase (see below) may be made at any velocity up to and including .6 c. No vessel may exceed .6 c in hyper (.8 in normal- combining the input from extremely acute sensor systems space) because radiation and particle shields cannot protect with known power inputs to a vessel's own propulsive systems them or their passengers at higher velocities. and running a continuous back plot of gravity gradients passed through, the HL maintains a real-time "dead reckoning" Once a vessel enters hyper, it is placed in what might be position. Early HLs were accurate to within no more than 10 considered a compressed dimension which corresponds on LS per light-month, which meant that, in a voyage of 60 light- a point-by-point basis to "normal-space" but places those years, the HL position might be out by as much as two light- points in much closer congruity. Hyper-space consists of hours. Early hyper-space navigators thus had to be extremely multiple regions or layers—-called "bands"—of associated cautious and make generous allowances for error in plotting but discrete dimensions. Dr. Shigematsu Radhakrishnan their voyages, but current (1900 PD) HLs are accurate to within (who, after Adrienne Warshawski, is considered to have been .4 light-second per light-month (that is, the HL position at the humanity's greatest hyper-physicist) called the hyper bands end of a 60 light-year voyage would be off by no more than "the back-flash of creation,"for they might be considered 288 light-seconds or less than 5 light-minutes). echoes of normal-space, the consequence of the ultimate convergence of the mass of an entire normal-space universe. From the beginning of hyper travel, it was known that there Or, as Dr. Warshawski once put it, "Gravity folds normal-space were multiple hyper bands and that the"higher"the band, everywhere, by however small an amount, and hyper-space the closer the congruity between points in normal-space and may be considered the Inside'of all those little folds." thus the higher the apparent FTL speed, but their use was impractical for two major reasons. First, translation from band In practical terms, this meant that for a ship in hyper, the to band bleeds off velocity much as the initial translation. distance between normal-space points was "shorter," which The bleed-off for each higher band is approximately 92% of allowed the vessel to move between them using a standard the bleed-off for the next lowest one (that is, the alpha band reaction drive at sublight speeds to attain an effective FTL translation reduces velocity by 92%; the beta band bleed-off capability. Even in hyper, ships were not capable of true faster- is 84.64%; the velocity loss for the gamma band is 77.87%, than-light movement; the relatively closer proximity of points etc.) but it still had to be made up again after each translation, in normal-space simply gave the appearance of FTL travel, and this posed an insurmountable mass requirement for any which meant that as long as a vessel was dependent on its reaction drive. reaction drive and could not reach the higher hyper bands, its maximum apparent speed was limited to approximately sixty- The second problem was that the interfaces between any two times that which the same vessel could have attained in two hyper bands are regions of highly unstable and powerful normal-space. energy flows, creating the"dimensional shear" which had destroyed so many early hyperships, and dimensional shear Navigation, communication, and observation all are becomes more violent as band levels increase. Moreover, rendered difficult by the nature of hyper-space. Formed by even the relatively "safe" lower bands which could be reliably gravitational distortion, hyper-space itself acts as a focusing reached were characterized by powerful energy surges and glass, producing a cascade effect of ever more tightly warped flows—currents, almost—of highly-charged particles and space. The laws of relativistic physics apply at any given point warped gravity waves. Adequate shielding could hold the in that space, but as a hypothetical observer looks "outward" radiation effects in check, but a grav shear within any band in hyper-space, his instruments show a rapidly increasing could rip the strongest ship to pieces. distortion. At ranges above about 20 LM (359,751,000 km) that distortion becomes so pronounced that accurate observations Hyper-space grav waves take the form of wide, deep volumes are impossible. One says "about 20 LM" because, depending of space, as much as fifty light-years across and averaging half on local conditions, that range may vary up or down by as their width in depth, of focused gravitational stress "moving" much as 12%—that is, from 17.6 LM (316,580,880 km) to 22.4 through hyper-space. Actually, the wave itself might be LM (or 402,921,120 km). A hypership thus travels at the center thought of as stationary, but energy and charged particles of a bubble of observation from 633,161,760 to 805,842,240 trapped in its influence are driven along it at light- or near- km in diameter. Even within that sphere, observations and light-speed. In that sense, the grav wave serves as a carrier for measurements can be highly suspect; in effect, the "bubble" other energies and remains motionless but for a (relatively) may be thought of as the region in which an observer can tell slow side-slipping or drifting. In large part, it is this grav wave something is out there and very roughly where. Exact, precise drift which makes them so dangerous; survey ships with observations and measurements are all but impossible above modern sensors can plot them quite accurately, but they may ranges of 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 km, which would make not be in the same place when the next ship happens along. navigational fixes impossible even if there were anything to The major waves in the more heavily traveled portions of take fixes on. the galaxy have been charted with reasonable accuracy, for sufficient observational data has been amassed to predict their This seemed to rule out any practical use of hyper-space until usual drift patterns. In addition, most waves are considered the development of the first "hyper log" (known as the"HL"by "locked," meaning that their rate of shift is low and that they spacers) in 731 PD.The HL is analogous to the inertial guidance maintain effectively fixed relationships with other"locked" units first developed on Old Earth in the 20th century CE. By waves. But there are also waves which are not locked—whose patterns (if, in fact, they have patterns at all) are not only a wave, which was driven along between the stress bands. not understood but can change with blinding speed. One Since the stress bands were waves and not particles, the of the most famous of these is the Selkir Shear between the "impeller wedge" was able, theoretically, at least, to attain an Andermani Empire and the Silesian Confederacy, but there instantaneous light-speed velocity. Unfortunately, the normal- are many others, and those in less well-traveled (and thus less space "pocket" had to deal with the conservation of inertia, well-surveyed) areas, especially, can be extremely treacherous. which meant that the effective acceleration of a manned ship was limited to that which produced a g force the crew could The heart of any grav wave is far more powerful than its survive. Nonetheless, these higher rates of acceleration could fringes, or, put another way, a "grav wave" consists of many be maintained indefinitely, and no reaction mass was required; layers of "grav eddies." For the most part, all aspects of the so long as the generators had power, the drive's endurance wave have the same basic orientation, but it is possible was effectively unlimited. for a wave to include counter-layers of reverse "flow" at unpredictable vertical levels. Despite the size of a grav wave, In terms of interstellar flight, however, the impeller drive was most of hyper-space is free of them; the real monsters that are afflicted by one enormous drawback which was not at first more than ten or fifteen light-years wide are rare, and even appreciated. In essence, it enormously increased the danger in hyper the distances between them are vast, though the grav shear had always presented to reactor drive vessels, for average interval between grav waves becomes progressively the interference between the immense strength of a grav shorter as one translates higher into the hyper bands. The wave and the artificially produced gravitic stress of an impeller great danger of grav waves to early-generation hyperships lay wedge will vaporize a starship almost instantly. in the phenomenon known as "grav shear."This is experienced as a vessel moves into the area of influence of a grav wave and, In the military sphere, it was soon discovered that although even more strongly, in areas in which two or more grav waves the bow (or "throat") and stern aspects of an impeller wedge impact upon one another. At those points, the gravitational must remain open, additional "sidewail"grav waves could be force exerted on one portion of the vessel's structure might be generated to close its open sides and serve as shields against hundreds or even thousands of times as great as that exerted hostile fire, as not even an energy beam (generated using on the remainder of its fabric, with catastrophic consequences then-current technology) could penetrate a wave front in for any ship ever built. which effective local gravity went from zero to several hundred thousand gravities. The problem of generating an energy In theory, a ship could so align itself as to "slide" into the grav beam powerful enough to "burn through" even at point blank wave at an extremely gradual angle, avoiding the sudden, ranges was not to be solved for centuries, but within fifty years cataclysmic shear which would otherwise tear it apart. In grav penetrators had been designed for missile weapons, practice, the only way to avoid the destructive shearing effect which could also make full use of the incredible acceleration was to avoid grav waves altogether, yet that was well nigh potential of the impeller drive. Since that time, there has been impossible. Grav waves might be widely spaced, but it was a constant race between defensive designers working new impossible to detect them at all until a ship was directly on top wrinkles in manipulation of the gravity wave to defeat new of one, and with no way to see one coming, there was no way penetrators and offensive designers adapting their penetrators to plot a course to avoid it. It was possible to recognize when to defeat the new counters. one actually entered the periphery of a grav wave, and if one were on exactly the right vector, prompt emergency evasion The interstellar drawbacks of impeller drive became quickly gave one a chance (though not a good one) of surviving the and disastrously clear to Beowulf's shipbuilders, and for encounter, but the grav wave remained the most feared and several decades it seemed likely that the new drive would fearsome peril of hyper travel. be limited solely to interplanetary traffic. In 1273 PD, however, the scientist Adrienne Warshawski of Old Terra Then, in 1246 PD, the first phased array gravity drive, or recognized a previously unsuspected FTL implication of the impeller, was designed on Beowulf, the colonized world of the new technology. Prior to her Fleetwing tests in that year, all Sigma Draconis System. This was a reactionless sublight drive efforts to employ it in hyper-space had ended in unmitigated which artificially replicated the grav waves which had been disaster, but Dr. Warshawski found a way around the problem. observed in hyper-space for centuries. The impeller drive used She had already invented a new device capable of scanning a series of nodal generators to create a pair of stressed bands hyper-space for grav waves and wave shifts within five light- in normal-space, one "above" and one"below"the mounting seconds of a starship (to this day, all grav scanners are known ship. Inclined towards one another, these produced a sort of as "warshawskis" by starship crews), which made it possible to wedge-shaped quasi-hyper-space in those regions, having use impeller drive between hyper-space grav waves, since they no direct effect upon the generating vessel but creating could now be seen and avoided. what might be called a "tame grav wave" which was capable of attaining near-light speeds very quickly. Because of the That, alone, would have been sufficient to earn Warshawski angle at which the bands were generated relative to one undying renown, but beneficial as it was, its significance paled another, the vessel rode a small pocket of normal-space (open beside her next leap forward, for in working out her detector, ahead of the vessel and closing in astern) trapped between Dr. Warshawski had penetrated far more deeply into the nature the grav waves, much as a surfboard rides the crest or curl of of the grav wave phenomenon than any of her predecessors, and she suddenly realized that it would be possible to build an Of course, there wasn't always a grav wave going the direction impeller drive which could be reconfigured at will to project a starship needed, but with the grav detector to keep a ship its grav waves at right angles to the generating vessel. There clear of naturally occurring grav waves impeller drive could, at was no converging effect to move a pocket of normal-space, last, be used in hyper-space. In addition, it was possible for a but these perpendicular grav fields could be brought into Warshawski Sail ship to "reach" across a wave (which might be phase with the grav wave, thus eliminating the interference thought of as sailing with a "quartering breeze") at angles of effect between impellers and the wave. More, the new fields up to about 60° before the sails began losing drive and up to would stabilize a vessel relative to the grav wave, allowing approximately 85° before all drive was lost. By the same token, a transition into it which eliminated the traditional dangers a hypership could sail "close-hauled," or into a grav wave, at grav shear presented to the ship's physical structure. In effect, approach angles of 45°. At angles above 45°, it was necessary the alterations she made to Fleetwing to produce her "alpha to "tack into the wave," which naturally meant that return nodes" provided the ship with gigantic, immaterial sails: passages would be slower than outgoing passages through circular, plate-like gravity bands over two hundred kilometers the same region of prevailing grav waves.Thus the old in diameter. Coupled with her grav wave detector to plot and "windjammer"technology of Earth's seas had reemerged in the "read" grav waves, they would permit a starship to literally "set interstellar age, transmuted into the intricacies of hyper-space her sails"and use the focused radiation hurtling along hyper- and FTL travel. By 1750 PD, however, sail tuners had been space's naturally occurring grav waves to derive incredible upgraded to a point which permitted the "grab factor" of a sail accelerations. to be manipulated with far more sophistication than Not only that, but the Dr. Warshawski's original interface between sail technology had permitted. and natural grav wave Indeed, it became possible produced an eddy of to create a negative grab preposterously high factor which, in effect, energy levels which could permitted a starship to sail be "siphoned off" to power directly "into the wind," the starship. Effectively, although with a marginally once a starship "set sail" it greater danger of sail drew sufficient power to failure. maintain and trim its sails and also for every other The Warshawski Sail also energy requirement and made it possible to "crack could thus shut down its the wall" between hyper onboard power plants bands with much greater until the time came to impunity. Breaking into leave hyper-space. A a higher hyper band Warshawski Sail hypership was (and is) still no thus had no need for bed of roses, and ships reaction mass, required very little fuel mass, and could sustain occasionally come to grief in the transition even today, but a high rates of acceleration indefinitely, which meant that the Warshawski Sail ship inserts itself into a grav wave going in velocity loss associated with "cracking the wall" between hyper the right direction and rides it through, rather like an aircraft bands could be regained and that use of the upper bands was riding an updraft.This access to the higher bands meant no longer impractical. the first generation Warshawski Sail could move a starship at an apparent velocity of just over 800 c, but an upper limit This last point was a crucial factor in attaining higher on velocity remained, created by the range capability of the interstellar transit times. The maximum safe velocity in any vessel's grav wave detectors. In the higher bands, the grav hyper band remained .6 c, but the higher bands, with their waves were both more powerful and tightly-spaced due closer point-to-point congruences, added a significant to the increasingly stressed nature of hyper-space in those multiplier to the FTL equivalent of that velocity. Prior to regions. This meant that the five-light-second detection range the Warshawski Sail, not only had dimension shear made of the original Warshawski offered insufficient warning time translating into the upper bands dangerous, but the to venture much above the gamma bands, thus imposing successive velocity losses had made it highly uneconomical the absolute speed limitation. In addition, the problems of for any reaction drive ship. Now the lost velocity could be acceleration remained. The Warshawski Sail could be adjusted rapidly regained and the higher,"faster" bands could be used by decreasing the strength of the field, thus allowing a greater to sustain a much higher average velocity. As a result, the proportion of the grav wave's power to "leak" through it, to dreaded grav wave became the path to ever more efficient hold acceleration down to something a human body could hyper travel, and captains who had previously avoided them tolerate, but the old bugaboo of "g forces" remained a problem in terror now used their new instrumentation to find them and for the next century or so. cruised on standard impeller drive between them. Then, in 1384 PD,a field is of very nearly equal Figure 8 physicist by the name of importance. A 7.5 million-ton Maximum Acceleration Rate by Tonnage Shigematsu Radhakrishnan freighter with empty cargo added another major Normal Space GravWave holds would require the same breakthrough in the form of Tonnage Warship Merchant Warship Merchant size field as one with full the inertia! compensator.The 0-79,999 550 G 253 G 5280 G 2429 G holds, and so would have the compensator turned the grav 80-499,999 520 G 240 G 5018 G 2308 G same effective acceleration wave (natural or artificial) 500,000-1,499,999 500 G 230 G 4825 G 2215 G capability. associated with a vessel 1.5-4,999,999 470 G 215 G 4536 G 1990G into a sort of "inertial sump," 4.0-6,999,999 450 G 207 G 4345 G 1990G Note also that in 1900 PD, dumping the inertial forces 7.0-8,000,000 420 G 190G 4053 G 1860G 8,500,000 tons represented of acceleration into the grav the edge of a plateau wave and thus exempting the in inertial compensator vessel's crew from the g forces associated with acceleration. capability. Above 8,500,000 tons, warship accelerations fell Within the limits of its efficiency, it completely eliminated g off by approximately 1 g per 2,500 tons, so that a warship of force, placing an accelerating vessel in a permanent state of 8,502,500 tons would have a maximum acceleration of 419 internal zero-gee, but its capacity to damp inertia was directly g and a warship of 9,547,500 tons would have a maximum proportional to the power of the grav wave around it and acceleration of 1 g.The same basic curves were followed for inversely proportional to both the volume of the field and merchant vessels. the mass of the vessel about which it was generated. The first factor meant that it was far more effective for starships than In 1502 PD, the first practical countergravity generator was for sublight ships, as the former drew upon the greater energy developed by the Anderson Shipbuilding Corporation of of the naturally occurring grav waves of hyper-space, and the New Glasgow. This had only limited applications for space second meant it was more effective for smaller ships than for travel (though it did mean cargoes could be lifted into larger ones.The natural grav waves of hyper-space, with their orbit for negligible energy costs), but incalculable ones incomparably greater power, offered a much "deeper" sump for planetary transport industries, rendering rail, road, and than the artificial stress bands of the impeller drive, which oceanic transport of bulk cargoes obsolete overnight. In meant that a Warshawski Sail ship could deflect vastly more 1581 PD, however, Dr. Ignatius Peterson, building on the g force from its passengers than one under impeller drive. work of the Anderson Corporation, Dr. Warshawski, and Dr. In general terms, the compensator permitted humans to Radhakrishnan, mated countergrav technology with that endure acceleration rates approaching 550 g under impeller of the impeller drive and created the first generator with drive and 4-5,000 g under sail, which allows hyperships to sufficiently precise incremental control to produce an internal make up "bleed-off" velocity very quickly after translation. gravity field for a ship, thus permitting vessels with inertial These numbers are for military compensators, which compensators to be designed with a permanent up/down tend to be more massive, more energy and maintenance orientation. This proved a tremendous boon to long-haul intensive, and much more expensive than those used in starships, for it had always been difficult to design centrifugal most merchant construction. Military compensators allow spin sections into Warshawski Sail hyperships. Now that was higher acceleration—and warships cannot afford to be no longer necessary. In addition, the decreased energy costs less maneuverable than their foes—but only at the cost of to transfer cargo in and out of a gravity well, coupled with the penalties merchant ships as a low energy and mass costs of the Warshawski sail itself and whole cannot afford. Figure 3 the greatly decreased risks of Bleed-off Factors & Hyper Apparent In practical terms, the dimensional and grav shear, Velocity Multipliers maximum acceleration a ship interstellar shipment of bulk can pull is defined in Figure 2. Hyper Translation Velocity Warship Merchant cargo became a practical Band Bleed-Off Multiplier xCee xCee reality. In point of fact, on These accelerations are with Alpha 92% 62 37.2 31.0 a per-ton basis, interstellar inertial compensator safety Beta 85% 767 460.2 383.5 freight can be moved more margins cut to zero. Normally, Gamma 78% 1473 883.8 736.5 cheaply than by any other warships operate with a Delta 72% 2178 1306.8 1089.0 form of transport in history. 20% safety margin, while MS Epsilon* 66% 2884 1730.4 1442.0 safety margins run as high Zeta* 61% 3589 2153.4 1794.5 By 1790 PD, the latest as 35%. Note also that the Eta* 56% 4294 2576.4 2147.0 generation Warshawskis cargo carried by a starship Theta* 52% 5000 3000.0 2500.0 could detect grav wave is less important than the lota 48% 6000 n/a n/a fronts at ranges of up to just table above might suggest. over twenty light-seconds. The numbers in Figure 2 use * Merchantmen do not normally use these bands. This represents maximum A hundred years later (the mass as the determining theoretical speed for them if they did. Q-Ships and merchant cruisers with time of our story) the range is reworked drives and compensators sometimes can reach these bands. factor, but the size of the up to eight light-minutes for grav wave detection and 240 light-seconds (4 light-minutes) In addition, of course, the discovery of wormhole junctions for turbulence detection. As a result, 20th Century PD military and a technique for their use imposed an entirely new pattern starships routinely operate as high as the theta band of hyper- on the ongoing Diaspora. Theretofore, expansion had been space. This translates an actual velocity of .6 c to an apparent roughly spherical, spreading out from the center in an irregular velocity of something like 3,000 c. The explored hyper bands but recognizable globular pattern. Thereafter, expansion and their bleed-off factors and speed multipliers over normal- became far more ragged as wormhole junctions gave space are given in Figure 3. virtually instantaneous access to far distant reaches of space. Moreover, wormhole junctions are primarily associated with In addition to his inertial compensator, Dr. Radhakrishnan also mid-range main sequence stars (F, G, and K), which gives a enjoys the credit for being the first to develop the math to high probability of finding habitable planets in relatively close predict and detect wormhole junctions, although the first was proximity to their far termini. not actually detected until 1447 PD, many years after his death. The mechanism of the junction is still imperfectly understood, Once initial access to the far end of a wormhole junction had but for all intents and purposes a junction is a "gravity fault," been attained, the habitable world at the far end (if there or a gravitic distortion so powerful as to fold hyper-space and was one) tended to act as the central focus for its own "mini- breach the interface between it and normal-space.The result is Diaspora," creating globular quadrants of explored space a direct point-to-point congruence between points in normal- which might be light-centuries away from the next closest space which are seldom separated by less than 100 light-years explored star system. and may be separated by several thousand. A hyper drive is required to utilize them, and ships cannot maintain stability Warshawski Sail Logistics or course control through a wormhole junction without By their very natures, the impeller drive and Warshawski Sail Warshawski Sails. Nonetheless, the movement from normal- had a tremendous impact on the size of spacecraft. With the space to normal-space is effectively instantaneous, regardless advent of the impeller drive, mass as such ceased to be a of the distance traversed, and the energy cost is negligible. major consideration for sublight travel. With the introduction of the Warshawski Sail, the same became true for starships, as The use of the junctions required the evolution of a new well. In consequence, bulk cargo carriers are entirely practical. six-dimensional math, but the effort was well worthwhile, Transport of interplanetary or interstellar cargoes is actually particularly since a single wormhole junction may have cheaper than surface or atmospheric transportation (even with several different termini. Wormholes remain extremely rare countergrav transporters), though even at 1,200 c (the speed phenomena, and astrophysicists continue to debate many of an average bulk carrier) hauling a cargo 300 light-years aspects of the theories which describe them. No one has takes 2.4 months. It is thus possible to transport even such yet proposed a technique to mathematically predict the bulk items as raw ore or food stuffs profitably over interstellar destinations of any given wormhole with reliable accuracy, but distances. work on better models continues. At the present, mathematics can generally predict the total number of termini a wormhole By the same token, this mass-carrying capability means will possess, but the locations of those termini cannot be interstellar military operations, including planetary invasions ascertained without a surveying transit, and such first transits and occupations, are entirely practical. A starship represents remain very tricky and dangerous. a prodigious initial investment (more because of its size than any other factor), but it will last almost forever, its operational There are other ambiguities in the current understanding of costs are low, and a ship which can be configured to carry wormholes, as well. In theory, for example, one should be able livestock and farm equipment can also be configured to carry to go from any terminus of a wormhole junction directly to assault troops and armored vehicles. any other. In fact, one may go from the central nexus of the junction to any of its other termini and vice versa but cannot Hyperships come in three basic categories: the low-speed bulk reach any secondary terminus from another secondary.That carrier; the high-speed personnel carrier; and warships. is, one might go from point A to points B, C, or D but could not go from B to C or D without returning to A and reorienting The maximum acceleration and responsiveness of a Warshawski Sail starship is dependent upon the power or "grab one's vessel. value" of its sails and the efficiency of its inertial compensator. Despite their incompletely understood nature, the junctions The more powerful (and massive) the sail generator, the opened a whole new aspect of FTL travel and became focusing greater the efficiency with which it can utilize the power of points or funnels for trade. There were not many of them, and the grav wave; the more efficient the compensator, the higher one certainly could not use them to travel directly to any star the acceleration its crew can endure. Moreover, it requires not connected to them, but one could move from any star an extraordinarily powerful sail, relative to the mass of the within a few dozen light years of a wormhole terminus to the mounting ship, to endure the violent conditions of the upper terminus then jump instantly three or four hundred light-years hyper bands. This means that larger ships, with the hull volume in the direction of one's final destination with a tremendous to devote to really powerful sails, have greater inherent power overall savings in transit time. and maximum theoretical average velocities (transit times) because they ought to be able to pull more acceleration from a given grav wave (thus reaching their optimum velocity of .6 In sublight movement, the larger vessel's more powerful sails c more rapidly) and to access the higher hyper bands (where (which equate to a more powerful impeller drive, as well) do the "shorter" distances effectively multiply their .6 c constant not give it a speed advantage because of the nature of the velocity by a quite preposterous factor). inertial compensator. The curve of the compensator's most efficient operation means that a smaller vessel (with a smaller There are, however, offsetting factors. The more powerful a area to enclose in its compensator field) can pull substantially Warshawski Sail, the slower its response time in realigning to a higher accelerations, and no amount of brute impeller power shift in the grav wave. This is potentially disastrous, but is, once can create an artificial grav wave with a sufficiently deep more, offset to some extent by the ability of the more powerful inertial sump to overcome this fundamental disadvantage of sail to withstand greater stress.That is, it isn't as necessary to a large ship. Capital ships thus are as fast as lighter warships the starship's survival that it be able to reset or trim a sail to in sustained flight but tend to be slower to accelerate or survive fluctuations in the grav wave about it. Put another way, decelerate. a bigger ship with more powerful generators can "carry more sail" under given grav wave conditions than a smaller vessel The tuning or trimming components of a Warshawski Sail and, all other things being equal, run the smaller vessel down. generator are its most expensive and quickest wearing parts, and they wear out much more rapidly on more powerful But, of course, things aren't quite that simple. For starters, a generators with their higher designed power loads. Because smaller, less massive vessel gains more drive from the same sail of this, bulk carriers use low-powered sails and the lower strength. Because it is less massive, it accelerates more quickly hyper bands, which limits their practical speeds to perhaps for the same power. And the inertial compensator, marvelous 1,000-1,500 c. Passenger ships and those vessels specializing as it may be, becomes more effective as its field volume in transport of critical cargoes accept the higher overhead cost grows smaller and the mounting vessel's mass decreases, associated with more powerful sails and run in the range of which means that a smaller ship can take advantage of its 1,500-2,000 c. For the most part (though there are exceptions) acceleration advantage over a larger vessel riding the same only warships are designed around the most powerful sails grav wave (and hence having access to the same "inertia and compensators their displacement will permit, giving sump") without killing its crew. If the smaller vessel can speeds of up to 3,000 c. A bulk carrier's tuning components accelerate to .6 c (the highest survivable speed in hyper-space) may last as long as fifty years between replacements and before the larger ship, the larger ship's theoretical speed those of a passenger ship up to twenty years, but a warship is advantage is meaningless, as it can never overhaul. Under likely to require complete tuner overhaul and replacement as extreme grav wave conditions, the larger ship can maintain frequently as once every eight to ten years. On the other hand, a greater effective acceleration, compensator or no, because a warship may spend decades "laid up" in orbit, making no the smaller ship's lighter sails are forced to "reef" (reduce their demands at all upon its sails, so the actual life span of a given "grab factor") lest their generators burn out. This is particularly set of tuners may vary widely between ships of the same class, true in and above the zeta band, and few merchant ships ever depending upon their deployment history. venture that high. Even fairly small warships tend to have extremely powerful sails for their displacement, so that they The Mechanics of the Diaspora can reach those higher bands, but smaller ships are simply It was discovered early in the Diaspora that the maximum unable to match the mass of a large ship's sail generators. This practical safe speed for a sublight ship was approximately .8 means that in some circumstances the larger ship can climb c, as radiation and particle shields can not protect the vessel higher in the hyper bands and/or derive sufficiently more above that velocity. usable drive from a grav wave to offset its lower compensator efficiency. The generation ships were built as complete, life-sustaining habitats oriented around the smallest practical self-sustaining In addition, smaller ships with less powerful sails can trim population and designed to boost to that velocity at one them much more rapidly and with greater precision. In wet- gravity. In the long term, onboard gravity was provided navy terms, smaller ships tend to be "quicker in the stays," through centrifugal force. In addition to their human able to adjust course with much greater rapidity and to take passengers, the generation ships also had to provide for all the maximum advantage of the power available to them terrestrial livestock and plants which would be required to from a given sail force. This means that a smaller ship with terraform the colonists' new home for their survival. Even an aggressive sail handler for a captain can actually turn in a aboard these huge ships, space was severely limited, and many faster passage time over most hyper voyages than a bigger early colonial expeditions reached their destinations only to ship.There are, however, some passages (known to starship come to grief through the lack of some essential commodity crews as "the Roaring Deeps") where exceptionally powerful, the settlers had not known to bring along. This sort of disaster exceptionally steady grav waves operate. In these regions, the became less common after about 800 PD, when the original, bigger ship, with its more powerful sails, is able to make full crude hyperships made it possible to conduct extensive use of its theoretical advantages and will routinely run down surveys of potential colony sites before the slower colony ships smaller vessels. departed, but by that time the generation ships were a thing of the past, anyway. In 305 PD, cryogenic hibernation finally became practical. It that just as it had once adjusted to the novelty of instant had long been possible to cryogenically preserve limbs and communication to any point on a single planet. organs, though even the best anti-crystallization procedures then available were unable to prevent some damage to the It is believed that the first Warshawski Sail colony ship was preserved tissues. But where minor damage to an arm or a the Icarus, which departed Old Earth on September 9,1284 liver was acceptable, damage to a brain was not, and the early PD, under the command of Captain Melissa Andropov (and, cryogenic pioneers'enthusiastic predictions about indefinite despite its name, provided over two centuries of dependable, suspension of the life processes had proven chimerical. reliable service before it was finally scrapped in 1491 PD), but for well over five hundred years, the dichotomy of FTL It was Doctor Cadwaller Pineau of Tulane University who, in hypership survey expeditions and sublight hibernation colony 305, finally cut the Gordian knot of cryogenic hibernation by transports remained the standard. going around the crystallization problem. He found that by lowering the hibernator's temperature to just barely above the When the transition finally occurred, there were several very freezing point he could maintain the physiological processes unfortunate instances in which unscrupulous operators used indefinitely at about a 1:100 time ratio. In other words, a the new hyper sail technology to pass hibernation ships hibernating human would age approximately one year for en route to their new homes. When the original colonists every century of hibernation, and his nutritional and oxygen arrived, it was only to find well-established (and armed) claim- requirements were reduced proportionately. Over the next jumpers already squatting on their planned home worlds. several decades, Pineau and his associates further refined If there was an already established colony in the vicinity, it his process, working to overcome the problem of muscular might take a hand to assist the original colonists, even to the atrophy and other physiological difficulties associated with extent of lending military aid to eject the claim-jumpers, in long comatose periods, and eventually determined that order to discourage such unsavory elements from ruining the optimum results required a hibernating individual to rouse neighborhood. If there was no such well-inclined planet in and exercise for approximately one month in every sixty years the vicinity, the original colonists were out of luck, particularly (i.e. after six physiological months), which remained a fixed since their technology might be several centuries less requirement throughout the cryogenic colonization era. advanced than that of the thieves they confronted. In some cases, this created a domino effect. Expeditions which found What this meant was that the life support capabilities of a themselves dispossessed of their colony sites often lacked the cryo ship could be vastly reduced in comparison to those of resources to return whence they had come (even if they had a generation ship. Moving at .8 c, the colonists experienced a the inclination) and many opted to risk settling an unsurveyed 60% time dilation effect; in other words, each sixty-year period world if there were stars with habitable planets (or which were of hibernation used up one century of voyage time by the likely to have such planets) in the vicinity. Many of them came standards of the remainder of the universe. Thus an entire one- to grief as the old generation ship colonies had in attempting century voyage could be made without a single "active" period to settle worlds other than the ones they had planned their and would consume only 7.2 apparent months of the traveler's original expedition's equipment list to meet, and those which life span. Longer voyages would require periodic awakenings, did not often wound up displacing yet another group of but they could be staggered, permitting the currently roused legitimate colonists. Other such instances ended far more crew to use only a fraction of the life support the entire crew happily, with the second group of settlers discovering a world would require. The result was to permit far larger numbers which was already partly settled and a group of "squatters" of colonists to travel on a given sized ship with a far lower who paid their own way with the improvements they had subjective time passage. already made and were integrated peaceably into the ranks of the "legitimate" colonists. A further boost to colonization came about in 725 PD with the advent of the first hyper drive. The casualty rates among With the advent of Icarus and her later sisters, however, the early hyperships were so severe that it took a rather daredevil entire pattern of colonization shifted. It was now possible mentality to go aboard one, and colonists weren't normally to make a 500 light-year voyage in barely two-and-a-half noted for that sort of personality. To claim a new home world years, an interval which dropped steadily as improvements in they would take risks, yes, but not risks they could avoid. Warshawski technology became available. Hibernation was still used on most colony ships, but now it was simply to cram But what the hyperships provided was a survey vehicle which in the largest possible number of passengers, not a necessity. could travel more than sixty times as fast as a sublight ship, Indeed, as higher and higher speeds became possible, the and the people who went in for discovering and exploring hibernation features began to fall by the wayside. (as opposed to settling) new worlds had just the sorts of mentalities to risk hyper travel. A situation thus arose in which survey ships, generally operated by private corporations, undertook the high-risk job of locating potential colony sites which were then auctioned to prospective colony expeditions. Even with the hyper drive, this required that everyone involved take a very long view of things, but humanity adjusted to Naval Design and Doctrine lower maximum speeds for greater cargo capacity. But speed Warship design in the twentieth century of the Diaspora was wasn't the only reason military shielding was so much more dictated, as it had been for the past seven hundred T-years, by powerful, for it was also used to fill the area between the the limitations and capabilities of starship propulsive systems. sidewall and hull and could lessen or even negate the effect of a hit which managed to pierce the primary defense. Engagements in hyper-space were far less common than normal-space combat simply because it was so difficult for The constraints of the impeller drive and the fact that ships ships to find one another there. As a result, designs were were designed for broadside fire also dictated their hull forms. optimized for normal-space warfare, despite the severe tactical drawbacks this imposed on the rare occasions upon which The nodes which generated the impeller wedge had to ships fought one another in hyper. be very specifically located relative to the dimensions of a ship. In general, they had to lie within twelve to fifteen Normal-space movement depended upon a ship's impeller percent of the extreme ends of the vessel and well inside the wedge, the inclined bands of stressed gravity above and below maximum beam which the wedge allowed. Although there the vessel. The physics of the impeller drive required that this were a few idiosyncratic exceptions, this meant virtually wedge be open both ahead and astern of the ship, although all warships were flattened, "hammer-headed" spindles, the sternward opening was much shallower. Since no known tapering to their smallest dimensions at their fore and aft weapon could penetrate an impeller stress band, this meant impeller rings and then flaring back out to perhaps a quarter no ship could fire at targets directly "above" or"below" it, but it of their maximum beam. The fact that starships generated also meant that fire directed at a ship from above or below was their own internal gravity allowed designers to orient "up" ineffective. and "down" perpendicular to the long axis of the ship, which both permitted efficient usage of internal volume and gave The sides of the impeller wedge, unlike its ends, could be renewed meaning to the ancient terms "upper" and "lower" closed by gravity sidewalls, a much weaker version of the decks. impeller stress band. A warship's sidewalls were its first and primary line of defense, extremely difficult for missiles to Chase armaments had to be squeezed into the flared ends penetrate (though there was an unending race between of the spindle, and there was little room, relatively speaking, missiles with better sidewall penetrators and defensive into which to fit them. As a general rule, a light warship's designers'efforts to build ever tougher sidewalls) and chasers might represent as much as a third of the power of invulnerable to even the most powerful energy weapons its broadsides, but the proportion fell as the size of the ship at ranges in excess of 400,000 to 500,000 kilometers grew. Truly enormous ships, like superdreadnoughts, might (approximately forty percent of effective range against targets mount broadside weapons on as many as four or five separate without sidewalls). decks, and their length was as much as seven or even eight times their maximum beam, which meant that each "gundeck" The fact that a ship could no more fire out through its offered twenty-five to thirty times the weapons volume impeller wedge than it could be fired upon also dictated the available to their chasers. arrangement of its armament, most of which was grouped on the broadside, with a much weaker "chase" armament The topsides and bottoms of warships were not armed, arranged for fire ahead and astern. Chase armaments were though a portion of those areas were used to mount various intended to cover the blind spots in a vessel's broadside firing sensor and communication arrays. Some navies experimented arcs, but they tended to be much lighter than broadside with vertically mounted missile tubes in an effort to recoup batteries because there was simply less hull volume in which that "wasted space," but with generally unsatisfactory results. A to mount them. capital ship's impeller wedge might be as much as a hundred kilometers "wide," and no missile could activate its own Although no "holes" could exist in an impeller stress band, impeller drive inside its mother ship's drive perimeter lest its portals (known to naval spacers as"gunports") could be wedge impinge upon that of the launching ship. Since the opened in a vessel's sidewalls to permit unobstructed fire of interference between them would have vaporized the missile its own weapons. In theory, gunports represented dangerous drive (and the rest of the missile with it), any missile's initial chinks in its defenses; in practice, the targets were too small flight path had to be a straight line, directly away from the and fleeting—they were "open" only long enough for a ship and ninety to a hundred kilometers in length, which no shot to be fired through them—to be deliberately targeted. practical vertically-launched weapon could attain. Nonetheless, it was not unheard of (though it was very rare) for a lucky shot to penetrate an open gunport. Broadside missile tubes incorporated powerful mass drivers to get the weapon outside the warship's wedge quickly, and, in Even a freak gunport hit, however, wasn't guaranteed to theory, a vertical launcher could have used a mass driver with inflict damage. The maximum safe velocity in n-space was an internally curved path to throw a missile out a top-mounted approximately .8 c for a ship with military-grade particle and tube at an angle which would clear the wedge. In practice, radiation shielding, whereas merchantmen normally relied on it was impossible to align the missile flight path precisely much weaker—and less massive—shield generators, trading enough with a sidewall gunport, and the additional mass required by the longer, curved mass driver was prohibitive, On the rare occasions when warships clashed in hyper- and efforts to devise "swim out" missiles which dispensed with space, the tactical environment was radically different. As mass drivers and relied on conventional thrusters for their a rule, starships in hyper tend to stay within the area of a initial acceleration proved universally disappointing. grav wave, using their Warshawski sails to draw acceleration and deceleration from the wave, and normal impeller drives All normal-space tactics and naval doctrine had evolved (including those of missiles) cannot be used within the area of around the limitations and capabilities described above. a grav wave. Obviously, the bow or stern of a ship, which could not be protected by a sidewall, represented its most vulnerable The Warshawski sail is essentially a highly modified and very aspect, and the ideal of virtually all normal-space tactics was to powerful impeller stress band projected in the form of a disk "cross the enemy's T" and gain a "down the throat" or "up the at right angles to the hull, not as a wedge above and below it. kilt" shot with one's full broadside while he could reply only The sail, which is just as impenetrable as an impeller wedge, with his chase armament. Since both sides knew this, however, extends for three hundred kilometers (as much as five hundred opportunities to cross the"T" were rare even in single-ship for really large vessels) in all directions. This not only makes duels and almost unheard of in fleet engagements. chase armaments even more important but also deprives the warship of the protection of its wedge against fire from "above" The most common tactical situation was the broadside duel, or "below." Indeed, it deprives a ship even of its sidewalls, for in which both ships brought the full power of one broadside there are no roof and floor for the sidewall to stitch together. to bear upon the other. Even here, however, a canny captain never forgot the impenetrability of his impeller wedge. One might expect admirals to avoid grav waves if forced to Whenever possible, he "rolled ship" to take fire—especially fight in hyper, but doing so is tantamount to breaking off the missile fire—which he could not avoid against that powerful action. The reason is simple: a ship under Warshawski sail can defense. At close range, lighter ships, which were much faster pull almost ten times the acceleration it could under impeller on the helm due to their lower masses, often resembled drive. Withdrawing from the wave, then, allows a fleet which whirling dervishes as they spun back and forth in an effort to remains within it to run away with relative impunity. bring their own weapons to bear and then snap back around to deny their opponent a target for return fire. A few navies have experimented with the idea of mounting the sidewall bubble generators used to generate 360° Such energetic tactics, however, were less practical for fleet "sidewalls" around fixed fortifications in their capital ships engagements. First, capital ships, which could mass up to for use in hyper-space engagements, but the sheer mass 8,500,000 tons, were necessarily slower when it came to of the system is self-defeating. A ship so equipped has an rolling ship, but, more important even than that, was the enormous advantage in hyper, but the volume consumed by development of the formation known as "the wall of battle." the generators cuts deeply into that available for weapons, which places the same vessel at an even greater disadvantage Since broadside fire was the only practical way to bring in normal-space combat. Since n-space combat is the rule and maximum fire to bear upon an enemy, admirals evolved the hyper-space combat is the exception, no navy has ever built a tactic of stacking their capital ships both vertically and in line major class of warship with bubble generators. at the smallest intervals their impeller wedge safety perimeters permitted. This produced the characteristic "wall"—an often Because warships in hyper are stripped of both their major enormous formation, one ship wide, which might extend passive defense against broadside fire and their longest for thousands of kilometers vertically and ahead and astern ranged offensive weapons, conventional tactical wisdom along the fleet's base vector. This was scarcely a maneuverable calls for a head-on engagement, the exact reverse of n-space formation, but at least it allowed maximum fire to be brought warfare. The idea is that the area of the ship ahead or astern to bear. of the impenetrable Warshawski sail is much smaller than its unprotected length, and that the reduction in target area (and Unfortunately, the tactical formalism fostered by the wall of hence vulnerability) more than compensates for any loss in battle also meant that major fleet engagements tended to be firepower. frustratingly indecisive unless one side was tied down by the need to defend a target which it simply could not abandon, In terms of maneuver once combat is joined in hyper, the like a populated star system. If one fleet took the worst of it advantage of "altitude" can become even more crucial than and had no overriding strategic reason to fight to the death, "crossing the T" in n-space battles. If a portion of one fleet its commander simply turned the units of his wall up on their can curl "over" or "under" its opponent, it can fire down (or sides, presenting only the roofs or floors of their wedges to up) upon the unarmed topsides or bottoms of enemy ships the enemy, and then bent all his efforts on breaking away. An without receiving return fire. Moreover, rolling ship is not an opponent who turned towards him to close the range and effective way to break off action under such circumstances, prevent him from disengaging (the only possible counter) since there is no impeller wedge to hide behind. Obviously, might actually cross its own "T," permitting his ships to roll back then, any admiral engaged from more than one bearing in and fire their broadsides down the throat of the pursuing fleet hyper-space is in serious trouble. with deadly effect. Naval Weaponry Because the chance of knocking a missile down increases The long-range normal-space shipkiller at the beginning of the geometrically in the last 50,000 or 60,000 kilometers of its run, 20th century of the Diaspora was the impeller-drive missile, as it steadies down on its final attack vector, direct hits against capable of maximum accelerations of some 85,000 gravities modern point defense are virtually unheard of. As a result, the and fitted with defensive ECM, sidewall penetrators, and laser standard megaton-range nuclear warhead was falling into warheads. general disuse for ship-to-ship combat by Honor Harrington's time, replaced by the laser head. The terminal bus of a laser Because even the highest missile velocities are well under head mounts sophisticated targeting systems and powerful that of light, they can be tracked and engaged by antimissile attitude thrusters to enable it to align itself so as to direct the defenses as they close. The ranges at which they can be fired greatest number of bomb-pumped laser beams at the target. also require that they be capable of active, self-guided homing Each laser inflicts less damage than a direct hit could have, on their targets, since light-speed transmission limits would but the chances of a hit—even multiple hits—from a single quickly render shipboard control arthritic and inaccurate. missile are greatly increased. Not only does a laser head's Because their onboard seeking systems simply can not be as stand-off range lessen point defense's chance to kill it short of sensitive and capable as those of a full-sized starship, they are detonation, but the cluster effect allows each to cover a much particularly susceptible to electronic counter measures, and greater volume of space. the fleet whose ECM is superior to its opponent's has a marked edge in combat. Active antimissile defenses consist of countermissiles, laser clusters, and (in navies further from "state of the art" hardware) The tracking time enjoyed against missiles also means that autocannon. Countermissiles are much smaller versions of a captain can employ evasive maneuvers against them. shipkillers, with more limited endurance and no warheads If nothing else, he can roll ship to take the incoming fire but capable of even higher acceleration. Their weapon is their against the impenetrable roof or floor of his wedge. In longer impeller wedge. If any portion of it impinges on an attacking range engagements, the flight time of the missile and the missile's active wedge, both vaporize as their drives burn out; acceleration capability of his ship allow him to maneuver well if the target's drive has already burned out, the "grav shear" clear of the position his opponent's fire control had predicted of the counter missile's wedge is more than adequate to at the moment of fire, imposing a still greater strain on an rip it apart. Because of their overpowered drives, however, attacking missile's drive and seekers. maximum effective counter missile range is seldom more than 1,000,000 kilometers or so. All of this requires that for effective missile fire, the missile drive must still be active and capable of terminal attack If the countermissiles miss their prey, stopping them is up to maneuvers right up to the instant of detonation. the computer-commanded laser clusters. Unlike missiles, these require direct hits, but by the time they come into play, their A missile's effective powered flight envelope can be increased target is normally steadying down for its final attack run, which by setting it for a lower rate of acceleration, which delays gives them much simpler fire solutions. burnout time on its small but powerful impeller drive. Eighty- five thousand gravities represents the maximum attainable In some navies, the lasers were backed by a last-ditch acceleration, used for snapshots at closer ranges in order to autocannon defense. The theory was simple: throw so many achieve the shortest possible flight times. At this acceleration shells that they built a wall of metal in the missiles' paths. rate, the missile has a maximum powered endurance of sixty Given missiles'closing velocities, any hit could be counted on seconds, which restricts it to a powered engagement envelope to vaporize them, but the development of laser heads made (assuming target and firer were at rest relative to one another autocannon largely irrelevant. When a missile can attack from at the moment of fire) of approximately 1,500,000 kilometers 20,000 or 30,000 kilometers, no last-ditch ballistic projectile and a terminal velocity of approximately 50,000 KPS. By setting can reach it in time. the drive down to 42,500 gravities, time to burnout can be extended to 180 seconds, producing a maximum powered The energy weapons of choice are the laser and graser, of engagement range of 6,755,000 kilometers and a terminal which the graser has a shorter range but greater effect. But velocity of 75,000 KPS. Lower accelerations are possible, but grasers are considerably more massive than lasers, so most the maximum range and velocity actually begin to drop as ships have mixed batteries, accepting the lower effectiveness acceleration is further reduced, and most navies adopted of the laser in order to mount greater numbers of weapons hardwired minimum settings in the vicinity of 42,500 g.The (which let them engage greater numbers of targets) while RMN, however, had not, as it believed there were instances retaining the"smashing"ability of the graser. Ships smaller in which absolute engagement range and velocity were less than light cruisers are normally so cramped for weapons space important than powered flight time to follow an opponent's that they have pure laser energy armaments. maneuvers. All of these attack envelopes, of course, can be radically extended or reduced by the relative velocities and accelerations of the ships engaged.

i The Star Kingdom of Manticore which a succession of MCT managers had discharged their The original colony expedition to Manticore departed Old duties. Earth on October 24, 775 PD aboard the sublight hibernation ship Jason for the Manticore Binary. Manticore, approximately It was as well that the colony had such unusual support and 512 LY from Earth, was a G0/G2 distant binary first confirmed off-world financial strength, however, for after almost forty to have planets in 562 PD by the astronomer Sir Frederick years in which things went perfectly, disaster struck Manticore Clarke. Its distance was such that the voyage would take 640.5 in 1454. years (just over 384 subjective years), requiring that each The initial bid for Manticore had been so high for two reasons. colonist be waked for exercise seven times. Accordingly, the One was that the G0/G2 binary was highly unusual—indeed, colonists were investing about 4.5 years of their lives (and all of unique—in having no less than three planets suitable for their money) in the voyage. human life.The second was that Manticore and Sphinx, the

Most of the colonists were Western Europeans, with a two Earth-like planets orbiting the GO stellar component, sprinkling of individuals from the North American Federation were extremely Earth-like. Although each had its own unique and a very small minority of ethnic Ukrainians. The total biosphere, survey reports indicated that terrestrial life forms expedition consisted of 38,000 adults and 13,000 minor would find it unusually easy to adapt, and so, indeed, it proved. children, and the "rights" to the system had been purchased at Terran food crops did well, and while the local flora and fauna auction from the survey firm of Franchot et Fils, Paris, France, could not provide all essential dietary elements, much of it was Old Earth. FF (as it was known) had a high reputation, and its digestible by the terrestrial visitors. Terraforming requirements survey ship Suffren had made the same voyage in just twenty thus were extraordinarily modest, consisting of little more than years. Suffren's crew had done FF's usual, professional job, the need to seed food crops and selected terrestrial grasses to although, of course, all data was accompanied by the caution support imported herbivores. Unfortunately, that very ease of that it would be 650 years out of date when the colonists adaptation had a darker side, and Manticore proved one of the arrived, and FF sold its rights in the Manticore System to very few extra-terrestrial systems to possess microorganisms the Manticore Colony, Ltd., for approximately 5.75 billion which could (and did) prey on humans. EuroDollars. As part of the transfer of rights, FF expunged all The culprit was a virus—or, rather, a small family of viruses— data on the system from its memory banks, transferring the which had been missed by the original survey team. Some information to the Federal Government of Earth's World Data virologists argue that it was not, in fact, missed but rather Bank's maximum security files. This was a standard safeguard evolved in the six centuries between the initial survey and the to protect MC against the occupation of the planet by later arrival of the colonists. Whatever the truth of the matter, the expeditions with faster ships, as it was already apparent that virus was deadly, producing a condition analogous to virulent advances in hyper travel might well make such protection influenza and pneumonia simultaneously in its victims. Worse, necessary, yet it was also recognized that there was no way it proved resistant to all existing medical technology and ten to guarantee that faster, more capable hyperships would not years were to pass before a successful vaccine was found. beat the colonists to Manticore. Accordingly, Roger Winton, President and CEO of MC (already elected first Planetary In that decade, almost sixty percent of the original colonists Administrator) opted to establish the Manticore Colony Trust died. Their Manticore-born children fared better against the of Zurich. disease, experiencing a generally less violent manifestation of it, yet without cushion provided by the MCT funds on Old The MCT's purpose was to invest all capital remaining to the Earth and the evolution of the Warshawski Sail hypership, the MC after mounting the expedition (something under 1 billion entire expedition would no doubt have come to grief. EuroDollars) and use the accrued interest to watch over the colonists' rights to their new home. It was a wise precaution, As it was, the colony found itself in urgent need of additional for when Jason finally arrived in the Manticore System on homesteaders. These were recruited from Old Earth (yet March 21,1416 PD, her crew discovered a modest settlement another process made much easier by the existence of the on the planet they christened Manticore, but it was staffed MCT), but the original colonists, concerned about retaining by MCT personnel who also manned the four small Earth- control of their own colony, adopted a radically new built frigates protecting the system against claim-jumpers. constitution before opening their doors to emigration. Indeed, so well had the Trust done in the last six centuries that

Manticore found itself with a very favorable bank balance, and Roger Winton had been reelected continuously to the the frigates became the first units of the Manticoran System post of Planetary Administrator, serving superbly in the Navy (later the Royal Manticoran Navy). Moreover, the small position throughout the early settlement period and the MCT presence on Manticore included data banks and carefully plague crisis. He was now an old man (over eighty) whose selected and trained instructors assigned to update the wife and two Terra-born sons had died of the plague, but colonists on the technical advances of the last six centuries. he remained vigorous and his Manticore-born daughter This last was a feature even Winton had not anticipated, and Elizabeth showed promise at least equal to his. At fifty-three, he had very good reason to be pleased both with his own she was President of the Board of Directors (effectively vice- decision and the diligence, foresight, and imagination with president of the colony) and one of Manticore's pre-eminent jurists. Since she had a large and thriving brood of second- The legislative branch consists of a House of Lords and a House generation Manticoran children and her family had served so of Commons with mutual veto power, and the Crown has both outstandingly, a convention of colony shareholders converted the right of initiation and veto. Traditionally, the executive the Corporation's elective board into a constitutional power is exercised through the Royal Council, headed by the monarchy and crowned Roger Winton King Roger of Manticore monarch in his or her own person but managed by the Prime on August 1,1471. Minister who (traditionally) is from the House of Lords, though there have been PMs from the Commons.The Crown retains It was a post he was to enjoy for only three years before the power to pardon and commute, appoints ministers and his death, but his daughter succeeded him as Elizabeth I judges, and, unless over-ruled by a majority in both houses, in a smooth and popular transfer of power, and the House possesses the power to interpret constitutional law through of Winton has ruled the Manticore System ever since. its appointees to the King's Bench. In cases of disagreement Simultaneously, the surviving "First Shareholders"and their between the Crown and both houses, the Lords serve as descendants, who held title to vast tracts of land, including the supreme judiciary without right of veto by Crown or most of the richest mineral resources of Manticore and Sphinx, Commons. acquired patents of nobility to go with their wealth, and the hereditary aristocracy of Manticore was born. The only real challenge to the Manticoran monarchy came in 1721 PD in the so-called "Gryphon Uprising," which remains The new wave of emigrants arriving in the wake of the Plague the most internal excitement the Star Kingdom has been comprised three distinct classes of citizen. Each emigrant forced to confront. Gryphon, the least congenial of the three received a land rights credit whose value precisely equaled habitable planets of the Manticore System, has by far the the cost of a second-class passenger ticket from the Solarian smallest share of First Shareholder families, as its first outpost League to Manticore. Any individual capable of paying his was not placed until fifteen years after The Plague. The own passage received the full credit upon arrival, whereas bulk of its aristocracy came from the Second Shareholders, those incapable of paying their passage could draw upon who, for the most part, had substantially less credit than MCT for a dollar amount equal to their land rights credit to First Shareholders and, accordingly, received smaller "Clear cover the difference between their own resources and the cost Grants" (that is, land to which clear title was granted prior to of passage. In addition, an emigrant whose resources were improvements by the owner/tenant). The Crown, however, had greater than the cost of his passage could invest the surplus, established the principle of "Crown Range" (land in the public paying 50% of the "book" price for additional land. The most domain and free for the use of any individual) to encourage affluent emigrants thus became "Second Shareholders" with emigration to Gryphon. By 1715, the population of Gryphon estates which, in some cases, rivaled those of the original had grown to the level set under the Crown Range Charter of shareholders and entitled them to patents of nobility junior to 1490, and the Crown began phasing out the Crown Range, those of the existing aristocracy. Those emigrants who were granting title on the basis of improvements made, and the able to retain their base land right or perhaps enlarge upon it trouble began. Yeomen who hoped to become independent slightly became "yeomen,"free landholders with voting rights ranchers, farmers, or miners claimed that the planetary nobility beginning one Manticoran year (1.73 Terran Standard Years) was using strong-arm tactics to force them off the land— after their arrival. Those who completely exhausted their land indeed, something very like a shooting war erupted between rights credit to buy passage to Manticore were known as "zero- "squatters" and "the children of shareholders," and after two balance" emigrants and did not become full citizens until such years of increasingly bloody unrest, a special commission was time as they had become well-enough established to pay taxes established by the Royal Council with extraordinary police for five consecutive Manticoran years (8.7 Terran Standard powers and a mandate to suppress the open violence and Years). While all Manticoran subjects are equal in the eyes reach a settlement. of the law, whether enfranchised to vote or not, there were distinct social differences between shareholders, yeomen, and The Gryphon Range Commission's final finding was that there zero-balancers, and even today there is greater prestige in was sound foundation to the yeomen's original complaints, claiming a yeoman as a first ancestor than in claiming a zero- and the Manticoran Army, having pacified and stabilized the balance ancestor. And, of course, direct descent from a full situation, then oversaw a closely regulated privatization of the shareholder is the most prestigious of all. Crown Range. A degree of dislike between small landholders and certain of the noble families continues to this day, but it The constitutional system prospered over the next 500 has become something of a tradition rather than a source of years, blessed by a series of strong monarchs and a steadily active hostility. growing population base.The constitution contains a strong "Declaration of Fundamental Rights," but the franchise is limited to citizens who have paid taxes for at least five consecutive years. (The policies encouraging emigration with land rights credits were ended after a period of fifty years, having served their purpose most effectively, and it is no longer possible for an emigrant to become an instant shareholder or gain the franchise immediately upon arrival.) Manticoran Politics Parliament from the Commons, as well. Despite this, the Star Manticoran political parties began as factions in the House of Kingdom's political parties tend to be working alliances of Lords and, in the Lords, retain much of their original factional individuals with the same basic interests rather than closed nature. ideological systems even today. Party discipline is often impressive when close votes must be fought through, but The Constitution adopted following the Plague intended to there is no "collectivist discipline" in the sense that a member place government primarily in the hands of the aristocracy, of a party must publicly endorse and support policies with who would dominate the House of Lords (the senior branch which he disagrees simply because the rest of the party does. of the Parliament) and the Royal Council, but things actually MPs are more likely than Peers to "vote the party line," but the worked out somewhat differently. Although Roger Winton had tradition of "voting one's conscience" is the Manticoran ideal, been a very strong planetary administrator, it is improbable and most of the Star Kingdom's political parties have their own that the drafters of the Constitution truly intended for the distinct "Ieft,""right," and "center" wings. Crown to acquire a firm grip on the executive authority. Elizabeth I, however, was a very shrewd administrator, and The more powerful parties are: the Centrist Party and she quickly observed that the original Manticoran peerage its normal ally the Crown Loyalists; the Liberal Party; the comprised a group of spokesmen for competing interests Conservative Association; the Progressive Party; and the so- rather than statesmen. By playing the interests of the various called "New Men" Party. factions within the Lords off against one another, Elizabeth was able to establish (among other things) that the Prime The Centrists, led by Allen Summervale, Duke of Cromarty, Minister and all non-hereditary members of the Royal Council the current PM, are the largest single bloc, though they do not served at her pleasure. The Lords had the right to advise and quite constitute a majority in their own right. The Centrists consent on initial appointments, but she had the power to pursue a rather conservative domestic policy of gradualism dismiss them at any time, and she could not be forced to and fiscal restraint, opposed to sweeping social changes and accept anyone else's choice for any of those positions. With determined to avoid deficit spending. More importantly, they that principle firmly enshrined in the unwritten portion of have been absolutely committed to the defense of Manticore the Star Kingdom's Constitution, Crown dominance of the against the growing Havenite threat for over fifty T-years, government was established. having believed that an eventual military confrontation was inevitable and should not be postponed in hopes it would go As a ruling house, the Wintons have proven extremely capable. away. In particular, they believed that waiting for the Republic Indeed, their only realistic competition as a dynasty has to weaken, however attractive it might seem, constituted come from the Andermani Empire, and for all its undisputed a supine surrender of the initiative to their enemies and so accomplishments, the Anderman Dynasty has always suffered invited long-term defeat. Moreover, unlike certain other from a potentially dangerous degree of eccentricity which has political groups, the Centrists believe Manticore can survive never afflicted the House of Winton. open warfare with Haven and that even if they are defeated, the final cost will not be much worse than a craven surrender. Nonetheless, it eventually dawned on the members of the It was the Centrists who supported Roger III in instigating the peerage that the Crown had assumed (some might say Star Kingdom's pre-war naval build-up and pushing through usurped) much of the political power the Shareholders had the annexation of the Basilisk System (a G5 star with a single intended to reserve for themselves and their children. It also habitable planet) to forestall Havenite occupation of the occurred to them that Elizabeth had enjoyed the strong Junction terminus in that system, which was at the time a support of the House of Commons in her maneuvers, for highly controversial move. Some critics saw it as the first step the Commons (elected primarily by the yeomen and zero- in a deliberate policy of imperial aggrandizement; others saw balancers imported after the Plague) had recognized that the it as an unnecessary challenge to Haven which could provoke Constitution stacked the deck against them. In particular, the the very war they feared. The majority of Queen Elizabeth's fact that both houses enjoyed the mutual power of veto but subjects, however, supported the annexation, whatever their that members of the Lords need not stand for election, gave representatives might think. Of all the aristocratic-led parties, the upper house enormous leverage in any dispute between the Centrists have the strongest support in the Commons, them. which gives them an added depth that affords rather more clout than simple numbers might suggest. Once recognition set in—and once the immediate factional squabbles of the early settlement and post-plague period had The Crown Loyalists, led by Henry McShain, Marquis of New been settled—the Lords began to evolve genuine parties. Dublin, might be thought of as Manticoran Tories. Their For the most part, they grew up around the old personal fundamental article of political faith is that stability and factions, but they were also differentiated by clear ideological prosperity for all Manticorans depends upon the power and differences, and as they solidified, they reached out to the authority of the executive in the person of the monarch. Commons for allies. Because of their advantages in not From time to time, the Crown Loyalists differ with the current needing to stand for reelection, members of the aristocracy monarch on policy, but in those instances they generally continue to head most of the political parties to this day, but seek to remonstrate in private while preserving a public front they have learned the hard way to listen to the Members of of solid support. The Crown Loyalists are extremely weak in the Commons.They are perceived, with a certain degree of parties and might charitably be termed reactionary. It justice, as the party of the great nobles, and while they are advocates an isolationist foreign policy, argues that foreign accorded great respect and deference, there is a belief (even adventures are dangerous, and decries the "steady, liberalizing among many Centrists) that they are insensitive to current rot threatening Manticore with anarchy." As might be surmised, issues, subjecting all of them to the litmus test of their effect the Association is something of a crackpot group which on the Crown's authority (and the nobility's influence). Those attracts the nobles who find the Crown Loyalists entirely who believe this also believe too permissive in defense that the Loyalists will oppose of privilege. Indeed, they The House of Winton any policy, however beneficial advocate return to an "original its final effects may be in other Monarch Dates (AL) Dates (PD) Manticoran balance of power" ways, if it weakens the Crown. Roger I 32-34 06/12/1471-09/01/1474 which never actually existed In general, the Loyalists share Elizabeth I 34-53 09/10/1474-01 /23/1507 outside the imaginations of the Centrist view on foreign Michael 53-72 01/23/1507-03/12/1539 their own theorists. Although policy, but they are even more Edward I 72-74 03/12/1539-02/11 /1544 they felt the Centrists' conservative in fiscal policy Elizabeth II 74-107 02/11/1544-11/30/1601 annexation of Basilisk was (they felt pre-war taxation David 107-131 11/30/1601-08/08/1642 an act of madness, the very levels were excessive) and have Roger II 131 -147 08/08/1642-05/11/1669 sort of adventurism which always had difficulty resolving Adrienne 147-154 05/11/1669-02/19/1681 could plunge Manticore into their contradictory support for William I 154-158 02/19/1681-01/27/1690 disastrous confrontation with a strong fleet and opposition to William II 158-188 01/27/1690-10/24/1741 foreign powers, Roger III and high military spending. Caitrin 188-200 10/24/1741-06/06/1762 Cromarty knew they could Samantha 200-214 06/06/1762-07/02/1785 be counted upon to support The Liberal Party, headed George 214-224 07/02/1785-11/19/1802 fleet appropriations, as their by Marisa Turner, Countess Samantha II 224-255 11/11/1802-09/24/1857 isolationist bent required a of New Kiev, advocates Roger III 255-270 09/24/1857-03/27/1883 powerful fleet to police their humanist reform and is Elizabeth III 270-present 03/27/1883-present borders. relatively disinterested in foreign policy. They are larger The Progressive Party, headed than the Crown Loyalists but smaller than the Centrists and jointly by the Earl of Gray Hill and Lady Elaine Descroix, is have less numerous but extremely loyal adherents in the the third largest party and, in general, endorses many of Commons. Although disheartened by the current state of the objectives of the Liberal Party. The Progressives share affairs in the People's Republic of Haven, the Liberals believe the Centrist determination to avoid deficit spending (which that the fundamental objectives of the Havenite Declaration the Liberals see as an acceptable, temporary evil), would of Economic Rights (see The Republic of Haven, below) were like to see "a better and more beneficial balance between laudable. In their opinion, the pre-war Legislaturalist Havenite social spending and military appropriations,"and share the leaders were"bad liberals" who had become prisoners of the Liberals' distaste for foreign policy. Unlike the Liberals, they "mobocracy"of the Haven System. Their own concern is with have never regarded concerns over Haven (which they see "bringing the Star Kingdom into the main stream of modern as an example of deficit-spending liberalism run berserk and galactic political thought" (ie., extending and enlarging the corrupted by power-seeking politicos) as alarmist. On the franchise, providing relief for the indigent, equalizing income, other hand, they also felt (and, apparently, still feel) that any and promoting greater popular participation in government), belief that Manticore can survive a fight to the finish with the and they do not pay much attention to the manner in which Havenite military machine is lunacy. (Since the beginning of affairs beyond the borders may impinge upon Manticore.They actual hostilities, the Progressives have been very vocally and regarded the Centrist Party's pre-war concern over Haven as publicly confident of Manticoran victory, but their opponents alarmist, believing that however expansionist Haven's current believe this is camouflage.) leadership might be, it would hesitate to try conclusions with Manticore (lest it rouse the Solarian League by threatening Because their primary concern is with domestic issues, their the Manticore Wormhole Junction) and would eventually traditional foreign policy has always tended to be extremely reach satiation and cease expanding. Since they preferred to simplistic, believing that "honest negotiators" can reach a increase spending on human services, they begrudged every live-and-let-live arrangement. Their pre-war Centrist and penny spent on the fleet, which caused them to lose a great Loyalist critics argued, not without justification, that this really deal of public support once active hostilities with Haven broke amounted to advocating that Manticore sell out the rest of out. Nonetheless, they continue to believe that "war never the galaxy to save its own skin, a policy which must ultimately settles anything," and of all Manticoran political parties, they result in disaster when there is no more galaxy to sell to remain most comfortable with the official pre-war ideology of Haven. Yet while this may well be a not-inaccurate reading of the People's Republic. the effect of their policy, it is unjust to argue (as their critics do) that it was their intended object. The real problem with The Conservative Association, headed by Michael Janvier, the Progressives'foreign policy is that they simply don't think Baron of High Ridge, is the smallest of the traditional political about it very much, relying on platitudes and vague beliefs rather than a reasoned analysis, which left them with no around a single charismatic leader. The real power struggle structured thought upon which to base themselves once the is between the Centrist/Crown Loyalist alliance and the Havenite Wars actually began. Liberal/Progressive Alliance, with the former holding a slight edge in the Lords and a larger one in the Commons.The The "New Men" Party, led by Sir Sheridan Wallace, is a relatively Liberals and Progressives tend to be allied on a stronger, new group which believes that power is far too concentrated deeper, and more permanent basis than the Centrists and in the hands of existing cliques of the aristocracy and wealthy Loyalists, helped by the fact that both of them regard foreign merchants/industrialists.They argue that the traditional policy as a distraction from the real concerns of the day. The Manticoran practice of co-opting capable and ambitious Centrists and Loyalists often find themselves divided over individuals into those two groups is a mistake. The Centrists particular points of domestic policy, but maintain a fairly and Loyalists believe that co-option assures a continuous united front on foreign policy and military preparedness. flow of new ideas into the aristocracy and financial elites in Both enjoy the support of the Crown, which is a decided a controlled, gradualist fashion, whereas the Liberals and plus, though the Loyalists remain far from convinced of the Progressives argue that the very concept of aristocracy is wisdom of the Centrists'pre-war willingness to accept (some anachronistic and anti-democratic. The New Men view the would say court) a confrontation with Haven.Traditionally, practice of co-option as a deliberate, undisguised mechanism the Conservative Association has helped tilt the balance in to keep control firmly in the hands of traditional power groups, favor of the two Crown parties because of its insistence on which is rather Liberal-sounding—until one realizes that maintaining a powerful fleet, but the potential has always their problem is less that there are traditional elites than that existed for the Association to strike a deal with the Liberals they don't control them. In a very real sense, the New Men and Progressives on foreign policy, although the fundamental are the lesser nobility's counterweight to the Conservative antipathy of their domestic policy positions makes it unlikely Association, mounting perennial assaults on the bastions an alliance between them could last. The real joker in the of power and entrenched privilege. Unlike the Liberals and deck is the "New Men." For all their relatively small numbers, Progressives, however, they believe that the spoils belong they are concentrated in the Lords, where the Centrist/Crown to the victors and are not out to overturn the system, but Loyalist majority is thinnest. No one in any party believes rather to seize the levers of power for themselves. The New that the New Men could work indefinitely with the Liberals Men have only the most rudimentary fiscal policy and share or Progressives, whose domestic policy is fundamentally at the Conservative Association's fundamental isolationism, yet odds with their own, but the possibility of a temporary alliance distrust the military as one more bastion of the Powers That to break the "stranglehold" of the Centrist/Crown Loyalist Be. In general, the New Men might be said to be in opposition group is not at all out of the question. It would be a cynical to everyone. They enjoy the least support in the Commons of marriage of convenience on both sides, probably with the tacit any of the major parties, but their intense party discipline puts understanding that once their common foes had been smitten Wallace in a position to reliably deliver an organized block of hip and thigh the Liberals, Progressives and New Men would votes essentially at will. This, coupled with his readiness to fight it out to a conclusion, and the real fear of Duke Cromarty make deals with anyone on a purely pragmatic basis, gives him and his inner circle is that the New Men may decide the much more power within Parliament than simple numbers Liberals and Progressives are so evenly matched that, once the might suggest. "entrenched power brokers" have been toppled, the New Men would find themselves in a position to control the outcome by In addition to the parties listed above, there are several choosing whom to support. small, ad hoc factions which come and go, generally focused

The Manticore Binary System system. Its severe climate has made this planet the last choice The Manticore System consists of a GO star orbited by its for colonization within the system, but, by the same token, G2 companion at an average radius of 738.7 LM with an this means it has the largest unclaimed areas (particularly eccentricity of approximately 12%, approaching to within 650 with its limited hydrosphere), and it has tended to attract the LM at periastron and 827 LM at apastron. more adventurous of the last two or three generations, giving it a particularly vigorous population. In addition, it actually Manticore has more planetary industry than Sphinx, and, despite its (Manticore-A III) Manticore's diameter is approximately 1.06 limited planetary supply of metals, the Unicorn Belt's asteroid Earth's (13,500 km), with a hydrosphere of 76% and an axial extraction operations produce the lion's share of the kingdom's tilt of 5°. This planet is slightly less massive than Earth, with raw ores. Perhaps because of this space-going orientation, a lower percentage of metals but still boasts considerable Gryphon provides a quite disproportionate percentage of the mineral wealth. Average temperatures are little less than Earth Royal Manticoran Navy's personnel. Indeed, the backbone of normal, and the climate is considerably moderated by the the RMN's petty officers come from Gryphon and seem to feel lower axial tilt. a divine mission to keep the sissies of Manticore A in shape.

Major Manticoran industries are agriculture, aquaculture, As of 1900 PD, Gryphon has a planetary population of mining, and a well-diversified industrial sector and R&D base. 575,000,000 and a belter population of 198,500,000. Population as of 1900 PD (280 After Landing) is approximately 1.25 billion. The major shipyards and space industry of the The Manticore Wormhole Junction Kingdom of Manticore orbit the capital planet. Wormhole junctions consist of a central wormhole (referred to as the "wormhole nexus") and its associated termini Sphinx (referred to as "secondary termini"). The nexus is connected Sphinx (Manticore-A IV) is larger than Manticore to each terminus by a unique pattern of gravity waves, one (diameter=16,500 km, or 1.30 Earth diameters). It is also pattern outbound and one inbound, normally referred to as somewhat more massive and richer in metals than the capital the "terminus route." Each junction has an absolute tonnage world. Sphinx is habitable only because an extremely active ceiling, the maximum mass which can be put through any carbon dioxide cycle gives it considerably more "green house" given terminus (including the central nexus) simultaneously, effect than its sister planets, and its hydrosphere is 68% with but the limit applies individually to each terminus route. an axial tilt of 14 degrees, which, coupled with its considerably lower average temperatures, gives it a much more active and Traffic may be routed from the central nexus to any terminus less inviting climate than Manticore. and from any terminus to the central nexus, but direct routing between secondary termini is impossible. The tonnage limit The major industries of Sphinx are mining, forestry, and animal can be moved simultaneously over different terminus routes. husbandry (the planet has vast herds of Terran-adapted cattle and native prongbuck). Industry has been slow to develop Each time a vessel or vessels move along a given terminus but is now beginning to make considerable ground. Planetary route, the route "destabilizes"for a brief period, during which population as of 1900 PD is 954,000,000. it cannot be used by other vessels. Any vessel will cause a destabilization of approximately 10 seconds, but ships larger Gryphon than 2,529,822 tons impose longer destabilization periods With a diameter of 13,200 km (or 1.04 that of Earth), Gryphon (equal to 1.5625e-12 sees per ton2 of mass). Thus the more (Manticore-B IV) is actually the most Earth-like (in terms of massive the transit (i.e. the larger number of vessels involved) size and mass) of Manticore's three habitable planets, but its the longer it is destabilized. Under normal circumstances. hydrosphere is only 51 % and its axial tilt is almost 27°. Coupled Junction traffic control will not permit transits along the same with its orbital radius (it is almost as far from the cooler route at intervals of less than 20 seconds (or a peak of 180 Manticore B as Manticore is from Manticore A), this gives it ships per hour). Under circumstances of extreme urgency, a rugged "continental"climate with extremely cold winters purely military units are allowed 10-second transit windows, and (relatively speaking) scorching summers. The colony's despite the risk of collisions at the far end. original cattle did not do well on Gryphon, but a genetically- engineered variant of the Plains Buffalo, imported from One inconvenience associated with wormholes is that any Beowulf (Sigma Draconis) in 1612 PD (113 AL) did extremely gravity well (or wormhole) produces a ripple pattern or well, and two of the kingdom's major exports to the older resonance in the lowest few Alpha bands. This ripple is no planets are buffalo hides and meat. In addition, the Gryphon problem for ships moving in bands above its reach, but it Kodiak Maximus provides one of the known galaxy's premiere is extremely dangerous for ships which pass through it. In peltries, though the Manticore Charter of Settlement requires addition, wormholes are normally "locked" in relationship that a relatively low ceiling be placed on the pelts taken. to the nearby sun(s) with which they are associated, and their mutual resonance patterns produce a cone of violently Gryphon is poor in metals (relative to Manticore or Sphinx) disturbed space in the lower Alpha bands. Any vessel which but very rich in rare earth elements, and its Winton Plateau encounters this disturbed space is very likely (probability possesses the richest proven fissionables reserves of the about 65%-70%) to simply be destroyed by a particularly nasty version of dimensional shear. Even those ships which survive As the rest of humanity, Manticorans use Standard Seconds, the passage normally take moderate to severe damage, and Minutes, and Hours, and Old Earth's 365.26-day year serves as accurate astrogation and/or station-keeping is impossible the"Standard Reckoning Year,"or"T-year,"the common base to for vessels passing through the area. Because of this, it is not which local dates throughout known space are converted for practical to use hyper-drive to move between the hyper-limit convenience in dealing with inhabitants of other star systems. of an associated sun and its wormhole terminus, and such Like most extra-Solar polities, the Star Kingdom of Manticore's journeys are made through n-space, despite the greater time history texts follow the convention of counting years "Post requirement. Diaspora" (ie., in T-years from the year in which the first interstellar colony ship departed Old Earth) as well as in terms The Manticore Wormhole Junction was discovered in 1585 PD of the local calendar. (98 AL). The Manticore Junction lies 412 LM from Manticore A and has the distinction of being the largest so far discovered, The Kingdom's Official Reckoning of dates is based on the connecting to no less than five other star systems: Sigma rotational and orbital periods of Manticore-A III, the planet Draconis (Solarian League), Gregor (Andermani Empire), Manticore. This calendar is used for all official records, but Trevor's Star (Republic of Haven), Phoenix (Phoenix Cluster), doesn't really work very well for the seasons of any planet and the most recently discovered (1856 PD/254 AL) G5 Basilisk other than Manticore itself. Accordingly, both Sphinx System, lying approximately 1/3 of the distance from the (Manticore-A IV) and Gryphon (Manticore-B IV) have their own, Republic of Haven to the Andermani Empire. In addition, the purely local calendars, which means that a single star system Star Kingdom's astrophysicists are currently working with the routinely uses no less than four calendars (including Standard latest survey data in the belief that the junction connects to at Reckoning). Needless to say, date-conversion software is least one and possibly more additional termini which have yet incorporated in virtually every Manticoran computer. to be isolated. The clocks of each planet count time in full 60-minute The wormhole junction has been a bonanza for the Standard Hours (or T-hours), with an additional, shorter "hour" Manticoran economy, attracting a huge concentration of called "Compensate" (or, more commonly, simply "Comp") shipping (which helps explain how a star system with less to make up the difference. Thus the Planet Manticore's day than half the population of the Solar System can have a consists of 22 hours (numbered 01:00 to 22:59) plus a 27- Gross System Product 78% that of the Mother System). minute-long Comp, while Sphinx's day consists of 25 hours Unfortunately, it has also made the kingdom a player, will (numbered 01:00 to 25:59) plus a 37-minute Comp.The it or won't it, on the galactic stage, as the imperialistic and planetary week is seven planetary days long in each case, and military implications of the junction are quite clear to all Manticore's day is used aboard all Royal Navy vessels. concerned. For obvious reasons, the Navy budget has received considerable attention in the last 50-odd T Years, and the The official year of the Kingdom is 673 days long, with a leap kingdom has laid claim to its first extra-system planet (Medusa, year every third year. It is divided into 18 months, 11 of 37 days a thoroughly unpleasant, marginally habitable planet in the and 7 of 38, alternating for the first 6 and last 8 months, named Basilisk System) to safeguard that terminus of the junction. (simply, if rather unimaginatively) First Month, Second Month, As Medusa is inhabited by a sapient alien species, this has Third Month, etc., with a leap year (1 extra day in 4th Month) embroiled the kingdom every third year. The Gryphon local year is also divided into 18 in questions of aboriginal months (16 of 36 days and 2 rights and protection, and Planetary Days and Vears of 37 days) with the extra days the increasing pressure of in Ninth and Tenth and one Day Year Year Year Havenite "merchants" there extra day in Eleventh Month (T-hours) (Local Days) (T-Days (T-Years) for "legitimate trade with every other local year. The Manticore 22.45 673.31 629.83 1.73 the natives" (who have very Sphinxian year, however, is Shpinx 25.62 1783.28 1903.65 5.22 little worth trading) further divided into 46 months, 35 of Gryphon 22.71 650.46 615.51 1.69 complicates an already 39 days and 11 of 38 days (the complex situation. shorter months fall in even- numbered months from Twelfth to Thirty-Second), with a leap Manticoran Time Keeping year every 7 years with an extra day in 15th Month. All of these Like all extra-Solar systems settled during the Diaspora of calendars are reckoned in "Years After Landing" (abbreviated Man, the Manticore System found it necessary to create its al), dating from the day (March 21,1416 PD) the first shuttle own calendar to reflect the axial and orbital rotations of their from the colony ship Jason touched down on the present-day new home, but in the Manticorans'case the situation was site of the City of Landing. Obviously, this means that each complicated by the fact that whereas most star systems are planet's local year is a different "Year After Landing" from any of fortunate to have a single habitable world, their distant binary the others. system possessed three of them, each with its own day and year. The Royal Manticoran Navy First Lord of the Admiralty The Royal Manticoran Military comes under the direction of Overall coordination of naval policy as directed by the Minister the Minister of War, who serves at the Crown's pleasure. of War, Royal Council, and Crown. Immediately subordinate to him are the Minister of >v Second Lord of the Admiralty the Army and First Lord of the Admiralty, both Budgetary and fiscal management. civilian administrative posts. Unlike many star systems, Manticore regards its Marine Corps Third Lord of the Admiralty as a component of the Army, not the Navy. In r~v Health and manpower. addition, the Army has responsibility for all planetary fortifications, but the Navy controls First Space Lord orbital and deep space fortifications and is Overall strategic direction, force structure clearly the senior service. It receives the lion's management, and deployment. Immediately share of defense appropriations, and the First Lord under the First Space Lord's direction are the Type of the Admiralty and First Space Lord (the senior Commanders (each a fleet admiral charged with the uniformed Navy position) have far greater traditional prestige management and training of a specific class of naval vessel) and authority than the Minister of the Army. and the Strategy Board (consisting of the First, Second, and Sixth Space Lords plus the Type Commanders). The RMN is a professional, career-oriented service. It began with only four small frigates, built on Old Earth for the Second Space Lord CBuPlan) Manticore Colony Trust of Zurich, but has grown over the past Operational planning and tactics. The Office of Naval five centuries into a potent fighting force with a solid core of Intelligence reports directly to the 2nd Space Lord. superdreadnoughts and dreadnoughts supported by more numerous battleships. Prior to 1847 PD, the Fleet was seen Third Space Lord (BuShips) primarily as a system defense force, its main function being to Construction and maintenance in association with the Second guard the Manticore Wormhole Junction and deter potential Lord's fiscal directions. threats from the generally small power blocs in Manticore's section of the galaxy. Since the Republic of Haven launched Fourth Space Lord CBuWeaps) its imperial wars in 1847 however, the RMN has turned its Research and Development (especially of weapon systems) attention more and more to the looming threat of Haven's again in association with the Second Lord's fiscal directions. huge navy. The battle fleet has been heavily overhauled and updated on a regular basis for the past fifty standard years, and Fifth Space Lord (BuPers) each year's budget has seen at least one additional capital ship Recruiting, manpower management, in association with the added to the fleet. In addition, lighter ships—battlecruisers, Third Lord's directions. heavy and light cruisers, and destroyers have been added on Sixth Space Lord CBuTrain) a growing scale to provide the battle fleet with the required Training and education in association with the 3rd Lord and scouts and escorts while leaving a surplus for the traditional 5th Space Lord. Also coordinates with 2nd Space Lord on commerce protection and raiding roles of the cruiser. training syllabuses. Administration Seventh Space Lord CBuMed) The RMN is administered by the Board of Admiralty which Responsibility for health and medical treatment of all Fleet consists often persons: three civilian Lords of the Admiralty personnel, including management of all Fleet hospitals, in and seven Space Lords. Their spheres of authority are as coordination with Third Lord) follows: Organization Prior to 1902 PD, both heavy cruisers and battlecruisers were The basic unit of organization in the Royal Manticoran Navy traditionally organized in squadrons of eight ships (4 divisions is the squadron. For ships of the wall and battlecruisers, this of 2 ships each) to integrate directly with their battle squadron is also the most commonly used tactical organization. A full counterparts. With the growing size of the navy, this practice listing of the organization units used and their composition is has been changing to the current standard 12-ship squadrons, below: but many Admirals prefer the older organization for the tactical flexibility it offers. Destroyer Division DesDiv 3-4 DD The Manticoran Navy is divided into two Fleet Districts: Destroyer Squadron DesRon 3-4 DesDiv Manticore (Manticore A) and Gryphon (Manticore B), each Destroyer Flotilla DesFlot 2-3 DesRon under the command of a Fleet Admiral who reports directly to Light Cruiser Division CruDiv 3-4 CL the First Space Lord. There are rumors of plans to create a third fleet district—Basilisk—but these have been stymied during Light Cruiser Squadron CruRon 4 CruDiv the tenure of Admiral Sir Edward Janacek (ret) as First Lord, Heavy Cruiser Division CruDiv 3 CA as Janacek, a staunch supporter of the Conservative Alliance, Heavy Cruiser Squadron CruRon 4 CruDiv regards Basilisk as an embarrassment rather than an asset.

Battlecruiser Division BatCruDiv 3 BC The Manticore fleet district has historically contained the First Battlecruiser Squadron BatCruRon 4 BatCruDiv Fleet (usually referred to as Home Fleet) and many of units Battle Division BatDiv 2 DN or SD typically detached on convoy escort duties. The Gryphon district is the home of Second Fleet, which has historically Battle Squadron BatRon 4 BatDiv been the striking arm of the Manticoran Navy. Prior to the Squadrons in the RMN are permanent administrative units, not start of the military buildup, there was little need for additional necessarily tactical units (although there is a distinct tendency fleet level formations, as task forces could be detached from for cruisers and above to be kept together as much as possible Home Fleet or Second Fleet on an as-needed bases. With the as tactical units, as well).Thus DesRon 21 might consist of 16 growing number of allied systems to defend the Admiralty has destroyers operating in 4 separate forces of a 4-ship DesDiv been drawing up plans for a Third Fleet. each and deployed light-years apart on an as-needed basis. The fact that light units routinely need to be detached as Fleets are traditionally broken into task forces, which could escorts, scouts, couriers, etc., helps to explain why their unit be built out of ships from different divisions and squadrons organization is so much more flexible than for larger units, without having to go through the administrative overhead which are not so likely to be detached. entailed by permanent reorganization, and were easily dissolved when they were no longer useful. Each task Cruisers fall into a special category as the medium combatant force was assigned a two-digit number. The first digit was maid-of-all tasks. Cruisers very seldom operate as complete originally the number of the fleet, while the second historically squadrons unless assigned to a task force or fleet organization, differentiated between task forces from the same fleet. It and even there, the TF or fleet CO has a distinct tendency to was typically abbreviated. For example, the designation TF keep peeling off individual heavy cruisers or divisions of light 21 refers to the first task force of 2nd Fleet. In addition, a task cruisers for all sorts of jobs. force could be broken into several task groups, identified by decimal points, as in TG 21.2. Officer Corps & Rank Structure Unfortunately, the RMN is the product of an aristocratic Throughout its history, the RMN has maintained that the society whose traditional power relationships have changed proper place for a naval officer to learn his trade is in space. but slowly over the past five centuries. This system has many While the Academy is grueling and demanding, a line officer's good points, including stability, a sense of order, and a feeling career truly begins only after graduation, when he may of mutual obligations between the classes; it also, however, is expect to spend at least the next four or five Manticoran prey to the forces of patronage and favoritism, and the Navy years (7-9Terran years) almost continuously in space in one has not escaped unscathed. Scions of the aristocracy or those shipboard assignment after another. By tradition, initiative with friends in high places can expect first consideration for and independence are encouraged, although, in fact, some choice assignments and are routinely promoted over the senior officers seem to have forgotten that. The hard core of heads of those without patrons. The potential for damage the RMN's officer corps, however, consists of seasoned, highly- this represents would be difficult to over estimate, but experienced ship-handlers who are intimately familiar with the worst abuses of the system are smoothed away by the their weapons, their personnel, and their mission. practice of "half-pay." An officer who has "made list" (that is, has been added to the list of permanent captains) may retain

his commission and his seniority while on inactive duty at 56) in an "upside-down" horseshoe arrangement immediately half-pay. Actually, the pay is considerably less than half, for - below the shoulder seam. The right shoulder bears the gold- he loses his various duty allowances and dependent support and-scarlet Manticore badge of the RMN. Collar insignia are allowances. Officially, this system was instituted to maintain worn on the tunic's collar, not the blouse's, but the same a large reserve of experienced officers in case of emergency; insignia are worn on an embroidered patch on the left chest of actually, it is used as a parking orbit for incompetents with the blouse, immediately above the pocket. Medal ribbons and powerful friends. Patronage will get an officer a chance to qualification badges are worn on the left breast of the tunic. In prove his ability and, if he shows himself capable, will get addition, starship commanders wear one star, embroidered in him choice assignments. If, however, he proves himself gold thread, for each hyper-capable command they have held, incompetent he will be promoted to "list" and then quietly above their other ribbons. shuffled off into the ranks of the half-pay officers and, in all probability, never employed again. Unfortunately, this is also In addition to the ranks listed above, there is an additional the way an occasionally capricious Board of Admiralty deals division, based on seniority, within each of the flag ranks with competent officers who have irritated the Powers That below Admiral of the Fleet. These are based on the two Be, and more than one highly qualified captain or admiral has historical fleet districts, with the junior half of the list assigned languished on half-pay while praying for a change in political to the Gryphon District and the senior half to the Manticore fortune to get him back onto a command deck. District. Originally, an admiral was actually assigned to the district in question; today it is simply an indication of relative Traditionally, 90% of all officers are Academy graduates, but seniority, with a Rear Admiral of Manticore being senior to a that percentage has dipped during the recent decades of Rear Admiral of Gryphon. The Naval Ensign displayed in each expansion, with a higher percentage of "mustangs" (an ancient district is differenced by a colored border—green for the term whose origin is lost in obscurity) or non-commissioned Manticore District and red for the Gryphon District—so a Rear personnel promoted to commissioned rank. Admiral of Manticore is usually referred to as a Rear Admiral of the Green, and his flag displays Officer's Uniform his rank stars on a green field. A The RMN uniform is black and gold. Rear Admiral of Gryphon, on the Officer's undress uniform consists other hand, is referred to as a Rear of a black, double-breasted tunic Admiral of the Red and his flag (which seals up the right side and displays his rank stars on a red field. has relatively long skirts which fall Commodores display their single to the upper thigh), a white blouse, planet on a broad pendant with the and black trousers. The tunic black field of the RMN Ensign. collar is "Prussian" in style—high and round but loose enough for The beret breaks to the right and comfort—and the blouse collar bears the Kingdom's coat of arms as is a turtleneck. Trousers are fairly a flash on the left side of the band. loose and straight cut to shin level, Starship commander's berets are at which point they flare out and white; all others are black. are bloused into low-topped space boots. The tunic's tailoring is slightly Enlisted Uniform wasp-waisted (with unfortunate Enlisted undress uniform is consequences for the portly), and considerably simpler than officer's bears thin gold piping up either uniform, consisting of a tailored, side of the cross-over front panel. one-piece coverall in standard Trousers are untrimmed. Navy black and gold. Name and rank insignia are worn on the left Cuff stripes are bands (usually breast. The same basic uniform is referred to as "rings") of gold braid. worn by noncoms, but the trouser A "normal ring" is two cm wide; half stripes are one cm wide, seams and shoulders of noncoms' uniforms are picked out and broad stripes are 3.8 cm wide. Naval reserve officers's in piping color-coded by branch: red for tactical, green for rings use gold lace rather than solid bands to differentiate medical, yellow for communications, white for engineering reservists from regulars. In addition to the cuffs, a matching and electronics, brown for logistics, etc. Additional specialist number of thin gold stripes are carried on the tunic's shoulder insignia (such as a missile for gunnery noncoms) is worn on board "epaulets." Epaulet stripes run front-to-back, not side- the upper left sleeve as a shoulder patch under the unit name to-side, and work in from the outer end of the epaulet. The for all ratings and noncoms. background color of the epaulet is red, not black.

The left shoulder of the tunic normally bears the name and hull number of the wearer's current ship (i.e. HMS Fearless, CL- Skinsuit of coordination, and the body The RMN skinsuit is white, must be kept in a relaxed "sitting" consisting of a single-piece body position to balance the vectors suit, boots, gloves and a helmet. properly. A skinsuit is individually fitted to its wearer and varies in thickness Aside from the thrusters, there from a minimum of about a half are few if any surface protrusions. inch to a maximum thickness of All of the various access points approximately 5 inches, although - like the suit umbilical fittings, the the gloves are much thinner than wafer control pad built into the the normal half-inch minimum. forearm sleeve, med panel, etc. - are covered by retractable "smart" The outer layer of the skinsuit panels. consists of tightly woven anti- ballistic fabric. Underneath is a The boots are similar to standard flexible matrix of storage vacuoles uniform boots, with the addition in which consumables are stored of gravitic soles activated at need under immense pressure. The by the sleeve keypad. vacuoles are interwoven with the suit's air, waste and heat The helmet has an opaque back management and power systems. and an armorplast faceplate with The innermost layer is a porous a 120 degree field of view. Unlike padding, designed to wick away most navies, the RMN wears their excess heat and moisture. headgear inside their helmets, accepting a slightly larger helmet The joints of the skinsuit are as a consequence. Small spotlights equipped with strands of "muscle," which are actuated by for EVA and emergency use are located on both sides slightly biofeedback sensors in order to provide a full range of motion above eye level. The helmet is marked with both rank insignia despite pressurization. Other than to counteract the mass and a name plaque. of the suit itself, skinsuits do not provide any significant augmentation of the strength of the wearer, the way that The inside of the faceplate contains a multifunction heads- powered armor does. It is, however, possible for someone to up display used for status displays, communications and perform gymnastics or operate a keyboard with full efficiency navigation. Inside to the left is a retractable water tube wearing a skinsuit. controlled by the arm keypad and to the right is the chin switch that connects the suit comm to the emergency comm The body suit itself is a single piece garment covering the legs, channel. arms and torso. Along the left arm is a flexible control pad, small status display and a trio of telltales providing information All skinsuits are equipped with emergency communications, on the skinsuit power level, seal integrity and oxygen level at a a rescue beacon and reflective piping to aid in Search and glance while the helmet is off. Rescue operations.

The chest has a medical panel consisting of a biometric Officer's skinsuits display collar and cuff insignia in gold in readout and controls for emergency stimulants and the same fashion as the undress uniform. Command suits are painkillers. In addition, the arms and legs are equipped with untrimmed while all others have piping on the shoulders and an emergency tourniquet system that inflates when critical chest (mimicking the undress tunic panel) color coded to their damage to a limb is detected, both to reduce blood loss and shipboard branch. retain pressure. Enlisted skinsuits display the name and rank insignia just

On the right hip at waist level is the umbilical connection above the med panel, piping on the shoulders and legs point, used to connect the suit's life support and plumbing to and rate and specialist insignia on the arms, all color coded the ship's systems. RMN doctrine requires that the umbilical (including insignia) by branch. be attached at all times when seated at action stations, but the Donning a skinsuit can be done in as little as two minutes, regulation is frequently ignored. given sufficient training. The body suit is put on first, including

There is a somewhat greater depth to the suit in the area of the the well known "plumbing connections"and seals with a press shoulder blades, where the primary suit thrusters are located. of the finger. The gloves and boots come next, both attach A second pair of smaller thrusters is located in the kidney area, to the suit proper by the same smart fabric closures. The used to balance out the thrust to push through the wearer's helmet can be clipped to the chest plate, carried or donned center of mass. Using the thrusters still requires a fair bit immediately as circumstances dictate. Battle Record of the RMIM In 1670 (148 AL), the Queen and her Admiralty decided that From the date of Landing to the discovery of the Manticore something more... energetic was in order. Edward Saganami, Junction, the RMN never boasted more than twenty ships, the hero of the Ranier War, was ordered to begin assembling a the largest of which was a light cruiser. With the discovery of squadron (actually a small but powerful fleet) for the purpose the Junction, it became evident that the kingdom's economic of proactive, search-and-destroy operations against pirates in future was assured and that the security of its isolation was the Silesian Sector. At the same time, ONI spent the better part a thing of the past. By 1655 PD, the RMN had commissioned of two years (from early 1669 to late 1671) amassing as much its first three dreadnoughts (then the largest warship class in intelligence data as possible on the pirates and their bases of service with most navies) and 12 battleships to support them, operation. The then government of Silesia was providing safe but this was seen primarily as a defensive force and, given the harbor in several of the Confederacy's star systems, but this relative peaceableness of the local star systems, it seemed fact was not widely known in Silesia, where there was still an unlikely they would ever be required. active and reasonably powerful Opposition Party. Reports from "arrogant foreigners" (like the Star Kingdom) were dismissed In 1651 PD (137 AL) King Roger II signed the Cherwell Anti- by the Government (and the press) as malicious lies. Adrienne's Slavery Convention, pledging the Star Kingdom, along with strategy was to send Saganami and his "squadron" in to begin the Republic of Haven, to cooperate in suppressing the busting pirate bases, one-by-one. In the process, he would not genetic slave trade, and the RMN added that obligation to its only destroy at least some of the vermin assailing Manticoran missions. In 1660 PD (142 AL), Manticore became embroiled commerce (and killing Manticoran spacers) but also (hopefully) with the Ranier System near the Phoenix Terminus of the amass the evidence needed to prove the collusion of the Manticore Junction. Ranier was little more than a pirate Silesian Government. enclave which had been raiding commerce at the relatively raw and unsettled Phoenix Terminus. No local star system had In November of 1671, Saganami began operations, and he the power to deal with the Ranierians—indeed. Phoenix itself proved highly successful. Within five months (by April of had been forced to pay tribute to them—and the pirates saw 1672 PD), he had taken out four major pirate bases, and in no reason they should not extort the same payments from the process he had captured a great deal of intelligence Manticoran merchantmen. Faced with this situation, the RMN data pointing towards the involvement of the Silesian gave the Ranierians a reason by deploying their first heavy Government.The Silesian Government decided that it was cruisers as a an escort and punitive force. From 1660 to 1662 only a matter of time before he succeeded in linking them (142-144 AL), the RMN fought numerous small cruiser actions incontrovertibly to the pirates. Worse, he was uncovering against Ranierian pirates, culminating in Commodore Edward evidence of their collusion with genetic slavers. By the time Saganami's punitive expedition against Ranier itself with the of Honor Harrington, the Confederacy had grown so corrupt first five Manticoran battlecruisers under his command. That that such evidence would not have been unduly worrisome action terminated the Ranier War by terminating the current to whatever set of rascals were currently in power; in the 17th government of the Ranier System. century, however, there was enough life left in representative government in the Confederacy for the possibility of a In the mid-1660s, the then government of the Silesian domestic voter revolt, loss of office, prison, or even execution Confederacy (much smaller than by the time of Honor to be distinctly real, so the Government concluded that Harrington, and without the level of chaos she knows, Saganami had to be stopped. It decided that killing off but already sliding into cronyism at the highest level of Saganami himself would go a long way towards blunting his government) began to quietly cooperate with Mesa and also squadron's operations, and that picking off several units of his to act as a fence and safe harbor for pirates. It took a while for squadron might "suggest" to Adrienne that she should stay Manticore to figure out that there was a link between the legal home and mind her own business. government of Silesia and pirates, and it was not until 1669, the year Queen Adrienne assumed the throne, that ONI began To that end, they "lost" several of their more modern, amassing evidence of actual governmental connivance with mothballed warships, transferring them to some of their piracy. At this time, the RMN was still thought of primarily as pirate associates. Said pirates also received some quiet a system defense fleet, and Saganami's Ranier expedition was reinforcement from Mesa, on behalf of their Manpower considered something of a flash in the pan which was unlikely slaver associates. By these means, the "pirates" were able to to be repeated. Queen Adrienne felt differently, however, amass a fleet whose putative fighting power was actually and she directed her Admiralty to take steps to protect the greater than that of Saganami's squadron. And just to make Star Kingdom's commerce in the Silesian Sector. Convoys sure, the Silesian Government, which had stiffly protested were established over the most critical routes, and incidents Manticoran "high handed interference in Silesia's internal of piracy decreased there. But the Navy was still too small to affairs" and "the arrogant violation of Silesian territoriality," also effectively cover the entire threat area, and individual pirates informed Saganami (and the Manticoran ambassador) that or small fleets of them continued to pick off unescorted further interference with "legitimate Silesian merchant traffic" ships or those under the"escort"of Silesian warships which would be construed as an act of war and "responded to with somehow found themselves "unable" to overtake the pirates appropriate force." operating in their areas of responsibility. Things did not work out exactly as they had planned.The first he felt compelled to divide his available escorts so as to cover clash between the reinforced pirates and a single, surprised the most critical areas - and convoys. Since the Silesian admiral Manticoran cruiser division resulted in a complete victory for had been careful to operate his ships in singletons, and none the pirates and the annihilation of the cruisers. The second of them had been heavier than a heavy cruiser, Saganami felt attack, in July of 1672 (149 AL), however, ran into a buzz-saw justified in assuming the risk of deploying single battlecruisers when it went up against an almost full strength RMN BC or heavy cruisers, or pairs of light cruisers, of his own. squadron (9 ships; BC squadrons at the time consisted of 12 units) in what became known as the Battle of Trautman's Star. What, in fact, his enemies intended, however, was simply to The RMN lost two ships in action, with four more damaged; the draw his forces into strategic dispersal. Because while he was pirates lost all but two of the 19 ships they (only 3 of them BCs, deploying his ships against the threat posed by the shadowing the rest cruisers of destroyers) committed to the attack, and "pirates,"the real surviving pirate ships were concentrated into both of the escapees were damaged. a single striking force which, aided by Silesian intelligence, would strike at the convoy being personally escorted by With six of his battlecruisers destroyed or sufficiently damaged Saganami and his flagship. Because all of the remaining forces to be forced to return to Manticore for repairs, Saganami were concentrated, they out numbered him by better than found himself dangerously stretched trying to cover his 6-to-1 in tonnage and 4-to-1 in firepower when they sprang command area. He had been reduced to a total strength of 7 their trap. The Silesians had calculated that Saganami's most battlecruisers and 2 heavy cruisers, and 5 light cruisers, and he likely course of action would be to order his convoy to scatter was forced to temporarily abandon his base-busting efforts while he himself avoided action, since he couldn't hope to and to fall back on a more traditional policy of convoy and win against such heavy odds. If the convoy did scatter, the patrol. pirates were instructed to ignore Nike and concentrate on slaughtering the merchantmen. They weren't to try to take The Silesian Government was furious over the fashion in them prize - they were simply to blow them out of space, which almost 75 percent of its "pirate" allies'vessels had been inflicting maximum casualties, in order to create a debacle destroyed atTrautman.The blow had seriously demoralized for which Saganami would bear personal responsibility in the the pirates, but the Government believed that the heavy loss eyes of the Manticoran public. The hope was that the resultant of life suffered by the RMN must also have a demoralizing scathing public criticism of the man who had been Manticore's effect on the Star Kingdom, which might begin to think star commander, coupled with the losses and damaged the twice about supporting its "interventionist policy" in Silesia. RMN had already suffered, would inspire Queen Adrienne's Especially if the Navy suffered additional losses. Accordingly, government to withdraw Manticoran units from Silesian space the Government, with the connivance of one of its more while they licked their wounds. corrupt flag officers (who was allied to one of the factions in the current Government), deliberately set a trap which was In the unlikely event that Saganami did not attempt to avoid designed specifically to either discredit Commodore Saganami action, Nike was to be destroyed with all hands, no prisoners or else catch and destroy his flagship, HMS Nike. taken, no survivors allowed. Any merchantmen who could be captured or destroyed would be, but the primary objective The basic strategy was for the corrupt Silesian admiral to would become the complete and utter destruction of deploy his own ships on "training exercises" in the course Saganami and his flagship. In part, to be perfectly honest, that of which they would "shadow" Manticoran merchantmen. If was because of the Silesians personal hatred for Saganami. But anyone subsequently accused the Silesian Navy of any sort of the Silesian government and also calculated that the loss of collusion, the justification for the admiral's orders with the that Manticore's star commander, especially if every single member he was conducting "tracking exercises" while simultaneously, of his flagship's crew was killed along with him, would drive himself, patrolling for pirates.The Government estimated that home the cost of such interventionist operations and inspire even if his explanation was disbelieved, most people would a public outcry that would force Queen Adrienne to withdraw buy into the second false explanation (the one the admiral her units. gave to his own ship commanders), which was that the Silesian Navy was harassing Manticoran merchant shipping What actually happened was that Saganami stood and fought, in retaliation for the flagrant violations of Silesian space by and that the combination of the quality of his ship and crew units of the Royal Manticoran Navy. The actual purpose was for and his own tactical skill with the pirates'orders to concentrate the shadowing Navy ships to be detected but not positively primarily on the destruction of his ship, led to the escape of identified. Towards this end, the skippers of the Silesian vessels over half of the convoy he was protecting. Moreover, of the six were instructed to ignore all communication attempts and ships which attacked Nike, two were destroyed outright, one to operate with their transponder shuts down or actually was so badly damaged that its own crew destroyed it, and two squawking false ID codes. of the three survivors were damaged. And the consequences were diametrically opposed to the ones the Silesian The plan succeeded in convincing Saganami that the government had anticipated. Instead of being horrified, "pirate" presence in Silesia had been reinforced even more Manticoran public opinion - and the Manticoran Navy - had strongly than ONI had believed. He immediately requested been given an iconic hero. Nike's last action in the Battle of reinforcements from the Star Kingdom, but in the meantime. Carson, on August 11,1672 PD (8/1173774 CE; 14th/7/149 AL), became the equivalent of the Battle of the Alamo - a rallying The History of the Nike cry which, rather than frightening Manticore into abandoning its campaign galvanized the entire Star Kingdom into The first Nike in Manticoran service was one of the four supporting it wholeheartedly and demanding victory. In the Earth-built frigates which had been dispatched to patrol end, the RMN dispatched an entire squadron of battleships, the Manticore Binary System once FTL travel had become supported by two divisions of dreadnoughts, to dictate terms available. She was waiting in Manticore in 1416 PD, when to the Silesian government in its own home system. And as the colony ship Jason arrived there from Earth. a part of the terms, the Silesian Confederacy was required to sign the Cherwell Convention in 1674 PD. The second Nike, BC-09, was built in 1460 PD. Although she was classified and numbered as a battlecruiser when Between 1674and 1850(183-251 AL), the RMN's attention was built, she was reclassified as a heavy cruiser in 1590 PD (see directed primarily to other Ranier-like parasites on their trade. below), when she was also renumbered CA-103. In fact, As the power which claimed sovereignty over the Manticore she was on the small size even for a genuine heavy cruiser, Junction, the Kingdom felt a certain responsibility to protect being little more than 180,000 tons in displacement. the trade of other systems, as well as its own, and the RMN found itself involved in several ticklish situations. In 1752 In 1590 PD, five T-years after the discovery of the PD (200 A.L.), Manticore actually fought a brief but intense Manticoran wormhole Junction, it became apparent to war with Trevor's Star (now a conquered dependency of the the Star Kingdom's government and to the Admiralty that Republic of Haven) over the punitive tariffs Trevor (already a larger and more powerful fleet would be required. A in shaky fiscal condition from deficit spending of its own) carefully thought out program of expansion was put into had taken to levying on all traffic through its terminus of the place, with the objective of creating a powerful System junction. The RMN followed a deep-space approach with half defense fleet to protect the home star system now that its battle fleet (including its first superdreadnought) rather the existence of the Junction and made its conquest even than using the wormhole route the Trevor's Star government more attractive. The plan was to build two squadrons of on San Martin had assumed Manticore would use, and the battleships and one squadron of dreadnoughts for home war ended with a single, sharp engagement in which the defense, supported by two squadrons of battlecruisers and San Martin Space Navy was essentially destroyed. As part of an appropriate number of heavy and light cruisers for force the peace terms, Manticore, recognizing the fiscal extremity projection and commerce protection. As part of that plan, which had driven San Martin to levy its tariffs, negotiated a the specifications and design for a new, powerful class of "most favored star system"trade agreement with San Martin. battlecruiser - larger and more powerful than any ship of Shaken by its experience, the war government of San Martin that class already in commission - were formulated. The brought the Trevor's Star budget under control, greatly reduce lead ship of that class was christened HMS Nike, and was welfare payments, and (prior to its conquest by Haven) the assigned the hull number BC-01, which had been released Trevor's Star System was one of the very few systems of the by renumbering the original BC-01, HMS Triumph as CA- Haven Quadrant which had a sound, thriving economy. No less 99. Because first priority was given to the construction of than 2.5 million San Martinos refugees and the bulk of the San the necessary defensive units, the first battlecruiser was Martin merchant marine and surviving Navy fled to Manticore not placed in commission until 1603. Nike was refitted and when their own system was conquered, and San Martin-born substantially updated in 1641, and again in 1669.Three citizens form a small but significant minority of the RMN's years later, in 1672, she was destroyed with all hands at the officer corps. Battle of Carson.

In 1790 PD (217 AL), the so-called "Free Brotherhood" was rash and battlecruisers hunted the Brotherhood's warships to enough to mount a raid on the Manticore System itself. The destruction between 1790 and 1794 (219 A.L) Free Brotherhood is a nomadic "nation" perpetually migrating through the galaxy aboard a fleet of huge hyper transports Since the mid-19th century PD, of course, the RMN's major accompanied by a veritable horde of light warships, none concern has been the expanding Havenite threat, but the fleet heavier than a battlecruiser. Although no match for a well- has kept busy with minor anti-piracy operations, flag-showing organized multi-star imperium, the Free Brotherhood has cruises in its spatial vicinity and among the non-Haven wreaked havoc with many single-system polities and made Junction termini, fortification of the Junction, and intensive the grave error of thinking it could do the same thing to training. The RMN's officer corps has limited experience with Manticore. The Brotherhood's initial attacks were thrown back fleet combat compared to the Havenite Navy, but their morale with heavy losses, and the Council of Captains (the "legislature" is much higher, they are trained to a generally higher level, and of the Brotherhood) fell back on the defensive ploy they they are highly motivated to protect their kingdom. In terms of traditionally followed when they realized that had antagonized actual space-going experience (ie., ship handling, navigation, too powerful a foe. The Brotherhood split up to elude counter policy enforcement, etc.), the RMN has a tremendous attacks and fled the region. They underestimated their advantage over the Havenite Navy, and the enormous problem, however, for in the RMN they had roused a tough- Manticoran merchant marine created by the Junction's trade minded opponent determined to make an end to (and an opportunities provides a vast reserve of experienced spacers. example of) the Brotherhood, and flying squadrons of cruisers

The People's Republic of Haven in general terms it might be called over-achievement. The Although the Haven System lies 667 LY from Old quadrant—and, in particular, Haven—had done too Earth, 155 LY further distant than Manticore, the well. Its wealth was incalculable, and it began to first shuttle landed on its habitable planet (also * T <> J seem unfair that that wealth was not more evenly called Haven) in 6/31/1309 PD, over a century distributed. In particular, capitalism, as always, before Manticore. This was possible, of course, , had produced stratified classes, ranging from because the introduction of the Warshawski Sail had fSHMMflp i the extremely wealthy to the marginal and even revolutionized the logistics of colonization just as m j sub-marginal, and if the members of Haven's "sub- it had every other aspect of interstellar movement, k j || marginal" class were immeasurably better off than, Haven's day is 24.56 standard hours in length, and say the pre-Anderman citizens of New Berlin, they its year is 412.25 local days in length, divided into 13 were not well off compared to their own affluent months, 9 of 32 days each and 4 of 31 days each.The neighbors, short months are the 3rd, 5th, 10th, and 12th. Every 4 years, the 3rd month is 32 days long. The Republic thus began to experiment, cautiously at first, with assistance and welfare programs to increase the Haven lay in a particularly attractive region, with an unusually opportunities of its less advantaged citizens. Unfortunately, high proportion of F, G, and K class stars, and the original what began as an experiment gradually became something expedition was extremely well financed as a joint venture else. Transfer payments became increasingly important for by no fewer than eleven corporations based on member the maintenance of the industrial poor, requiring greater planets of the Solarian League. Moreover, the planet of Haven levies on the productive elements of society. Marginal proved well-named, for terrestrial life forms adapted to its industrial operations were shored up by protective tariffs, environment with a minimum of difficulty and its climate was government loans, and outright grants to encourage full very nearly idyllic. With a powerful PR organization to tout its employment, which both undercut the overall efficiency and attractiveness, it exercised a magnetic effect on the would-be productivity of the industrial base and encouraged rampant colonists of the League and, with the availability of the new inflation. Inflation further worsened the condition of the poor, hypership technology, grew at incredible speed. By 1430 PD, requiring still higher transfer payments—payments which The Republic of Haven already boasted a planetary population were soon adjusted for inflation on a mandated basis—and, of almost a billion and was beginning to mount colony as the network of assistance proliferated, it came to be seen expeditions of its own in what became known (despite the fact as a fundamental"right" of those receiving the aid. By 1680 that six other systems in the same region had been colonized PD, Haven had issued its famous "Economic Bill of Rights," before or almost simultaneously with Haven) as the Haven declaring that all of its citizens had an "unalienable right"to Quadrant. a relative standard of living to be defined (and adjusted as inflation required) by statute by the legislature. By 1475, the Haven economy and government had proven themselves extremely efficient and effective. Politically, Haven In the process, the government had initiated an unending was a representative democracy with a strong and politically spiral of inflation, higher transfer payments, and increasing active middle class, and its economic policy enshrined the deficit spending. Moreover, it had (quite unintentionally, at principles of liberal capitalism with minimal governmental least at first) undermined the fundamental strength of its own interference. Coupled with the "jump start" provided by democracy. The middle class, the traditional backbone of the the colony's highly favorable initial circumstances, this Republic, was under increasing pressure both from above combination of market efficiency and flexible government and below, caught in the squeeze between inflation and ever created a planetary standard of living higher even than that of larger levies against its earnings to support the welfare system, most Solarian League member worlds, and it became the envy Whereas the middle class had once seen the upper class as and the pattern for every other world in the quadrant. (at worst) essentially friendly rivals or (at best) allies in their joint prosperity, they came to see the wealthy, as the poor, For the next two centuries, Haven continued to fulfill its as enemies, fighting over a dwindling prosperity. Worse, the promise, rising to a system population of almost seven middle class's traditional aspiration to upward mobility had billion and becoming a sort of interstellar Athens. The Haven become an increasingly remote dream, and it was much easier Quadrant, although composed of independent worlds to focus resentment on those who had more than the middle and star systems, rivaled the Solarian League for economic class than on those who had less—a tendency which became power, and it remained a vibrant and expansive entity, unlike ever more pronounced as "enlightened" commentators and the essentially satisfied and content League. Although the academics secured dominant positions in the media and quadrant contained no wormhole junctions, it was linked to educational system, the Manticore Junction and thence to the League, and there was every reason to believe that its expansion and prosperity Perhaps worst of all, was the emergence of the "Dolist" would continue. blocs. The Dolists (so called because they were "on the dole," receiving government assistance in greater or lesser degree) It did not. Precise identification of a specific event which were still franchised voters and, quite logically, supported caused the change within the quadrant is impossible, but the candidates who offered them the most It was a case of self-interest, and the Dolists'self-interest interlocked had become accustomed, and after almost two centuries with that of increasingly careerist politicians. A new class of of increasingly serious self-inflicted wounds and inflation, machine politicians, the"Dolist managers,"emerged, playing not even the once-robust Havenite economy could support the role of king-makers by delivering huge blocks of votes to that burden. It became apparent to the political managers chosen candidates. Incumbent politicians soon realized that that the entire edifice was in trouble: tax revenues had not their continued incumbency was virtually assured with the matched expenditures in over 143 Standard years; R&D was managers' backing—and that the converse was also true. A faltering as an increasingly politicized (and hence ineffectual) politician targeted by the "People's Quorum" (the official term educational system purveyed the pseudo-scientific mumbo- for the alliance of Dolist managers) was doomed, and as they jumbo of collectivist economic theory rather than sound became aware of their power, the leaders of the Quorum scientific training; and the decreasing numbers of truly selected specific politicians to punish as an example to their capable industrial and technical managers produced by the colleagues of the power the Quorum represented. system were increasingly lured to other star systems whose economies allowed them to use their talents and enjoy the Finally, as if to complete the system-wide outbreak of mass benefits thereof (until, that is, the "Technical Conservation insanity, most of those who recognized that something Act" of 1778 revoked emigration visas for all research and was wrong embraced a "conspiracy theory" which assumed production engineers by nationalizing their expertise "as that their problems must result from someone's hostile a resource of the Republic"). Real economic growth had machinations—probably the domestic "monied classes" stopped—indeed, the economy was contracting—and the or foreign industries who "dumped" their cheap, shoddy stagflation which had resulted was becoming a self-sustaining products on the Haven economy. Almost worse, there was an reaction. In 1791 PD, a highly classified economic report to the entrenched element of "this wouldn't be happening to us if House of Legislators predicted that by the year 1850 the entire we weren't somehow at fault" in the vast majority of mid-18th economy would collapse in a disaster which would make Old century Havenite political and societal analysis and rhetoric, Earth's Great Depression and the Economic Winter of 252 PD and this masochistic tendency only became more pronounced look like mild recessions. The Chiefs of Staff, apprised of the as the century wound to a close. degree of collapse to be anticipated, warned that it would precipitate pitched warfare in the streets as Haven's citizens By 1750 PD, the Republic—no longer "The Republic of Haven," fought for food for their families, for Haven had long since but now "The People's Republic of Haven"—had become attained a population which could not feed itself without the captive of a coalition of professional politicians (indeed, imports, and imports could not be paid for with a negative politicians who had never had and were not qualified for any balance of trade. other career) and the Quorum, aided and abetted by a morally and intellectually bankrupt academic community and a mass The government saw only two ways out: to bite the bullet, end media philosophically at home with the Quorum's objectives deficit spending, abolish the dole, and hope to weather the and cowed (where necessary) by threats of blacklisting. That resultant catastrophic reorganization, or to find some other the Quorum could succeed in blacklisting journalists had been source of income to shore up the budget.The possibility of demonstrated in 1746 PD in the case of Adele Wasserman, one admitting they could no longer pay the interest on Haven's of the last moderate journalists. Her moderation, which was mortgaged future was too much for them to stomach, which actually a bit left of center by mid-17th century standards, was meant only the second solution was a real possibility, but labeled "conservative" or, more frequently, "reactionary" by there was no more money to be squeezed out of the economy. her 18th century contemporaries. She herself was called "an A panicked group of legislators suggested draconian "soak enemy of the common man,""a slave of the monied powers," the rich" schemes, but the majority recognized that any and (most cutting slur then available on Haven) "a fiscal elitist," such panacea would be purely cosmetic. Aside from their and her employer, one of the last independent press services, own hidden assets, the wealthy represented less than 0.5% was pressured into terminating her contract (for"socially of the total population, and the totally confiscatory taxes insensitive and inappropriate demagoguery") by means of an proposed would provide only a temporary reprieve... and economic boycott, strikes, and governmental pressure. Her eliminate both future private investment and the highest firing, followed by her subsequent relocation to the Kingdom tax brackets (already taxed at 92% on personal income and of Manticore and a successful career as a leading theorist of 75% on investment income) as a long-term revenue source. A the Centrist Party, was the writing on the wall for any who had self-sustaining tax base could be produced only by a strong eyes. Unless something quite extraordinary and even more middle class, and the middle class had been systematically unlikely intervened, the current Havenite system was doomed. destroyed; what remained of it was far too small to sustain the government's current rate of expenditure and had been for The problem, of course, was one which had arisen as long over a century. ago as Old Earth's Roman Empire. When power depends on "bread and circuses," those in power are compelled to That left only one possible way to find the needed revenue, provide ever greater largess if they wish to remain in power. and the government, with the cooperation of the Quorum, In effect, the politicos required a bottomless and ever-filled prepared to seize it under the so-called "DuQuesne Plan". public trough to pay off the Dolists and provide the graft and corruption to support the lives to which they themselves The first step was a "Constitutional Convention" which radically quadrant's other systems found their own economies were rewrote the Haven Constitution. While maintaining a facade becoming increasingly strapped, and warships and troops cost of democracy, the new constitution, by limiting eligibility money which was required for their own welfare programs. requirements and office qualifications and giving the House of Legislators the right to refuse to seat even a legally elected The result was a turkey shoot for the Peoples' Navy. Between representative if the House found him or her"personally 1846 and 1900 PD, a period of barely more than fifty years, the unfit for public office," created a legislative dictatorship with Republic of Haven had conquered every star system within hereditary membership. (It was not a father-to-son inheritance a hundred light-years of it, incorporating them by force into but simply a codification of the "adoption" process which had a new, interstellar PRH ruled by the now openly hereditary become the normal career route for Havenite politicians over "legislature" of the Haven System. the past century; true dynasties came later.) The second step was not to limit deficit spending but to increase it, this time Unfortunately for the legislature, they soon discovered that with the enthusiastic support of the military, which underwent conquest was not the panacea they had hoped. True, they the greatest peacetime expansion in Havenite history. And the could loot the economies of conquered worlds, but unless third step, launched in 1846 PD, was to acquire new revenue they wanted servile insurrection, there was a limit to how from a totally new source: military conquest. badly they could wreck their subject economies. Worse, the military machine required to conquer and then police The initial attacks were almost totally unopposed. The their new empire cost even more than they had anticipated, quadrant was so accustomed to the idea that Haven particularly as their alarmed and (so far) unconquered represented the ideal to which all humanity aspired that its neighbors began to arm in reply. Despite all efforts, their steady collapse had been sadly underestimated. Haven's budgets remained stubbornly in the deficit column; they problems were known, but their severity was misjudged, and simply could not pay for both their military and the support of the consensus was that all of them could be solved if Haven their subsidized population out of available resources. There would only put its house in order. Indeed, the majority of was an appearance of prosperity on the home front, but those Haven's neighbors felt that Haven was on the right track but in informed positions knew that it was only an appearance. had simply gotten temporarily out of control, and many of In short, the"Republic"had only two options: continue to them were in the early stages of the same process in a sort of expand, or collapse. lemming-like emulation of disaster. The sudden expansion of the Havenite military caused some concern, but those who As the writing on the wall grew more distinct, the needs of the suggested that long-friendly Haven contemplated hostile Republic focused on the richest system not yet conquered: action were viewed as hysterical alarmists. Besides, the The Star Kingdom of Manticore. The People's IMavy Organization Like the Manticoran Navy, the People's Navy officer corps is Like the RMN, the People's Navy uses the squadron as the both comprised of long-term volunteer professionals. However, an administrative unit and often as for tactical coordination as while Manticoran officers were expected to use their own well. judgment and trained accordingly, Havenite officers were kept on much tighter leashes by their superiors. RMN admirals Destroyer Division DesDiv 4 DD tended to allow their subordinates considerable freedom of Destroyer Squadron DesRon 3 DesDiv action within broad strategic and tactical parameters; their PN counterparts tied their units into tight, centralized planning Destroyer Flotilla DesFlot 2 DesRon and expected them to do as they were told. Light Cruiser Division CruDiv 4CL

Light Cruiser Squadron CruRon 3 CruDiv Perhaps even more significantly, the People's Republic was not a forgiving master—and it was far more heavily politicized. A Light Cruiser Flotilla CruFlot 2 CruRon Havenite officer dared not deviate (openly, at least) from the Heavy Cruiser Division CruDiv 2 CA "party line," and if he failed to carry out his orders, whether Heavy Cruiser Squadron CruRon 4 CruDiv those orders made sense or not, his career was likely to be Battlecruiser Division BatCruDiv 3 BC short. Favoritism and careerism were more rampant in the People's Navy than in the RMN. Few officers not "sponsored" Battlecruiser Squadron BatCruRon 4 BatCruDiv

by a Legislaturalist family reached flag rank, and only members Battle Division BatDiv 2 BB, DN or SD of those families would ever pass the rank of rear admiral. Battle Squadron BatRon 4 BatDiv

There is a tremendous difference between the enlisted and The People's Navy is much more rigid than the RMN about noncommissioned ranks in the two fleets, for over seventy organization, with even smaller ships being fairly closely percent of the People's Navy's lower deck personnel were coordinated at an administrative and tactical level. Officially conscripts. The PN's petty officers, the backbone of any there is only one Fleet in the People's Navy, most operational navy, averaged less than half the length of service of their level organization uses Task Forces and Task Groups split off Manticoran counterparts, because of the higher turnover in a from the main fleet. This has served them well in their initial conscript-crewed fleet, and the lesser personal incentives the conquests, where their operational pattern was to deploy the PN offered. number of ships necessary to secure the target, then bring the bulk of the Task Force back after the system was pacified, The education levels of the two sides differ markedly. The leaving only a small task group for orbital security. progressive "democratization" of the PRH's educational system had emasculated it. It was sad but true that the best educated As the true scope of a multi-system war begins to set in, it is enlisted personnel of the PN were conscripts from conquered only a matter of time before the navy must be subdivided into planets, who had largely completed their schooling before the fully independent fleets. PRH's centralized education policies blighted their teaching establishments. Battlecruisers are tightly integrated into the wall of battle, and organized into 8-ship squadrons accordingly. Heavy The primary weakness in the PRH's educational system lies in cruisers are often organized in similarly sized squadrons as practical mathemaics - where a Manticoran senior technical part of the screen, but recently, the People's Navy has been rating would be able to read several diagnostics and deduce experimenting with 6-ship "short" squadrons of heavy cruisers a fault, PRH technicians were taught to pull a component and for commerce and infrastructure raiding. replace it if its trouble light turned on. Officer's Uniform Republic. The exception is the Order of Valor, which is always The People's Navy officer's undress uniform consists of a short, worn on the right side. forest green jacket, a white blouse and grey trousers. Line officers wear a peaked green cap with a black visor and The jacket design is similar to something called an "Ike Jacket" the symbol of the People's Republic embroidered on the front. for reasons lost to history. It has pockets to either side of the Flag officers replace the embroidery with a gold and silver pin. midline seal, double pointed collars and an integral belt at the waist. Aside from the lower forearm, which is black to set off Enlisted Uniform the cuff rings, the jacket is untrimmed. The enlisted undress uniform consists of a one-piece grey coverall, belted at the waist. The fit is considerably looser than The blouse is white with a wraparound turtleneck collar that the officer's uniform, and the two pockets on the chest are seals with a flap on the left. The shoulders carry rank insignia joined a by two cargo pockets on the legs. The coverall seals on flexible "shoulder boards" that fit comfortably under the up the front to an open collar. jacket. The top two thirds of the left side chest, over the shoulder The trousers are loose and straight cut down to cover the and down one third of the back is a panel color coded by tops of the boots. A black belt with silver buckle is partly department. Just above the left pocket is a black nametag. hidden by the jacket. Piping up the sides is color coded to department, yellow for tactical, blue for astrogation, red for Rating insignia is color coded to department like the chest communications, orange for engineering, etc. panel, and appears on the upper left sleeve. Specialty insignia is worn above the rating stripes for petty officers and above, Cuff rings are gold braid on a black background. The topmost ring breaks to a loop in the center, with half rings to indicate The enlisted cap is standard navy grey with a black band. The junior ranks and double rings to indicate flag ranks. Matching cap is soft peaked at the front and back and untrimmed. stripes are carried on the jacket's shoulder boards and those of the blouse. Even with rapid promotions, there are few senior petty officers and fewer chief petty officers in the People's Navy. Many Collar insignia is worn on the lower points of the jacket and positions that would normally be filled by a petty officer are consists of a "train track" of interconnected gold bars. Silver filled by a commissioned officer instead. bars are used for junior ranks and double wide bars for flag ranks. While Manticoran press coverage of Havenite fashion trends is minimal, much political byplay has been made of the Ribbons are worn just above the pocket on the left side, similarity in cut between the Havenite enlisted uniform, and immediately to the right of the symbol of The People's the standard garments issued to Dolist workers and medium security inmates in the Republic. Skinsuit The skinsuits worn by the People's Navy are typical of the tech base that produced them. They are bulky and utilitarian, but functional and considerably less expensive than their Manticoran counterparts.

The storage vacuoles used are several generations behind those used in Manticoran skinsuits, which adds to the bulk of the body suit and reduces their endurance to only 6 hours. On the other hand, they are considerably lighter, and require a lesser degree of augmentation to maneuver comfortably, and they are significantly easier to manufacture and keep maintained, particularly given the technical manpower limits of the People's Navy. The PRH's skinsuit is one of its primary technological exports to outlying star systems. While the Manticoran design is inarguably superior in every technical aspect, the Havenite design is less expensive (especially when factoring in economies of scale) and cheaper to maintain and operate.

The suit's standard med panel is hidden behind a press-seal flap on the chest. Stimulants and painkillers can be dispensed with a single keypress. The emergency tourniquet system is also controlled from the med panel.

The keypad on the left arm (right arm for left handed crewmen) is uncovered, but can be locked to prevent accidental keypresses. Most suit functions are controlled from this keypad, which includes a small readout to display suit integrity status. A popular after-market conversion is to duplicate this readout into a helmet projection heads up display.

The suit's umbilical attachment is on the front slightly off the left hip. This puts it just below the normal range of movement for the left arm while seated, while still allowing a firm connection.

The helmet design is less bulky than the RMN helmet, but has a much narrower field of view. The People's Navy does not require headgear to be worn under the helmet. In- helmet controls and the head's up display are similar to the Manticoran design.

The thrusters are designed for emergency use only, with an endurance of only a few minutes of sustained thrust. This is sufficient for emergency egress from a damaged ship, but for extended EVA work, small maneuvering sleds or strap-on thruster units are used.

Both officers and enlisted Skinsuits are white, trimmed over the shoulders and down the inside of the arms with striping color coded by department. While the helmets have traditionally been white, a recent redesign introduced the black helmets shown here.

Officers' suits display rank stripes on the cuffs much like the undress uniform tunic. Officer's skinsuits may come with or without cargo pockets on the legs, a decision that is usually left up to individual preference. The Balance of Naval Power against "proper" ships of the wall, but to cover occupied The pre-war naval balance between Manticore and Haven systems against anything smaller than a wall of battle ship. was the result of an arms race which had lasted for almost fifty years. Despite the Star Kingdom of Manticore's wealth and the The same internal policing requirements explain the greater People's Republic of Haven's ramshackle financial structure, numbers of destroyers in the PN fleet mix. In addition, both the PRH was so much bigger that the smaller percentage of navies had large numbers of LACs (light attack craft) which do total income it could devote to its military budget was larger not appear in the figures above, since their individual combat in absolute terms. Moreover, the Star Kingdom, the core of the power was slight and they were not hyper capable, being Manticoran Alliance, possessed only three inhabited planets; intended purely for local defense. the PRH contained over a hundred, which provided a far It should also be noted that, once again despite the greater larger pool from which to draw starship crews and support mass of most classes in the RMN, Haven's total wall of battle personnel, and it had begun its initial buildup well before (superdreadnoughts and dreadnoughts) contained forty- Manticore. nine percent more units than Manticore's but held a tonnage advantage of over fifty-two percent. This reflected the RMN's Comparative Strength by Class need to build a higher percentage of smaller and less capable dreadnoughts. Not only did each dreadnought use up less Manticoran Navy People's Navy of its smaller budget and require a shorter building time, Total # Tonnage Total # Tonnage but Manticore needed numbers, as well as sheer tonnage, SD 188 1318.5 Mt 412 2801.6 Mt for tactical flexibility. Despite this, however, the Manticoran DN 121 694.3 Mt 48 258.3 Mt Admiralty steadfastly rejected all suggestions that it should BB 374 1430.6 Mt build still smaller and cheaper battleships as Haven had done. BC 199 148.7Mt 81 59.0 Mt The RMN's view was that CA 333 92.0 Mt 210 54.5 Mt while some concessions CL 295 30.1 Mt 354 29.8 Mt had to be made to bring Average Tonnage DD 485 35.0 Mt 627 40.7 Mt Total 1621 2318.6 Mt 1944 4674.5 Mt numbers up, battleships Manticore Haven

were simply too small SD 8/250,000 8,000,000

and weak to lie in the wall DN 6,750,495 6,331,818 The People's Navy thus had a tonnage advantage of almost of battle, and Manticore, gg 4500000 exactly two to one, yet its overall advantage in hulls was only unlike Haven, could not BC 878,894 856790

1.2 to 1, despite the fact that the RMN's ships were almost afford to tie up millions CA 3250Q0 300iO0Q uniformly more massive on a per-class basis. This apparent of tons in "capital ships" CL 120,000 98,870 discrepancy resulted from the composition of the two forces. unable to bear the brunt pp S5i0Q0 76,400 The People's Navy was designed not only for wars of conquest of fleet combat. but to police the enormous sphere the PRH had already conquered. The large number of battleships in its order of battle were intended not for the wall of battle, where their smaller size would place them at a grievous disadvantage The disparity in average hull sizes is evident, but what it be able to throw more missiles—especially better missiles— actually meant in fighting power can be best illustrated by faster and incorporate an energy armament heavy enough comparing two ships of nominally equivalent classes: HMS to make close-range action decisive than to try to outlast an Nike (a Reliant-c\ass) and PNS Sulton. Both were battlecruisers opponent. It is also worth noting that the smaller Manticoran of the latest generation, but Nike massed 881,250 tons with fleet contained well over twice as many BCs as the PN. a crew of 2,105 (including Marines) as opposed to Sultan's 877,500 tons and crew of 1,695. Although she was less than Havenite designers had somewhat different priorities from three percent more massive overall, Nike's side-walls were ten those of BuShips. Life-support allocations were less generous, percent tougher than Sultan's, and her energy weapons were a higher percentage of the total ship's mass was allocated fifteen percent more massive (and much more powerful) on a to EW (because their systems were less effective), and their mount-for-mount basis. energy weapons (offensive and defensive) were more massive on a throughput basis. As a result, they accepted both less Offensively, Sultan mounted a broadside of six lasers, six powerful energy weapons (which allowed them to use a grasers, and eighteen missile tubes to Nike's eight lasers, six smaller total tonnage percentage per mount) and lower grasers, two energy torpedoes, and twenty-two missile tubes. ammunition allocations, both in missiles-per-tube and in terms In terms of chase armament. Sultan mounted two lasers and of the proportion of counter-missiles to ship-killers. five missile tubes ahead and the same astern, while Nike mounted four missile tubes, two grasers, and a laser in the The assumption was that once the missiles actually began same positions. flying in earnest, the lower efficiency of their defensive systems would mean that their ships were going to take hits Part of the Manticoran ship's superior armament was bought faster, even if they put in all of the counter-missile launchers at the expense of magazine space. While Sultan has more they could possibly cram into the available displacement, missiles overall, it has a lower maximum salvo size, allowing it so it made sense to economize on the ammunition the ship to participate in salvo. This is complicated even more by the probably wouldn't get a chance to use. Also, Havenite point RMN's superior electronics and penetration aids, which made defense clusters also accepted a lower throughput. This gave Nike's missiles almost thirty percent more accurate (and harder each cluster's lasers less individual stopping power, but it to stop), and a higher rate of fire per launcher, and allow her to allowed them to mount about 20% more emitters on the score hits from a longer range. same basic tonnage. Another doctrinal difference is that their anti-ship weapon fire control was specifically adapted to The two ships also reflected differences in doctrine and allow them to use energy weapons in the point defense role design philosophy.The RMN built battlecruisers as screening to supplement point defense mounts. The capacity of their elements for its battle squadrons, but it also regarded them energy-range anti-missile defenses was a primary factor in as raiders and designed them for independent operations, as their willingness to accept lower counter-missile loadouts. well. PN doctrine, on the other hand, tied its BCs much more tightly to the wall of battle, regarding them as scaled down, Clearly, in any engagement with her opposite number the faster elements of the main battle fleet with a sustained Manticoran ship's heavier armament, superior electronic combat role in fleet engagements. The RMN believed that any warfare capabilities, and generally more efficient point defense BCs life expectancy against ships of the wall would be brief gave her a powerful advantage. Indeed, a single Reliant could and that battlecruiser-versus-battlecruiser actions would be engage two Sultans with a fair chance of victory. short and sharp. As a result, BuShips believed it was better to The Manticoran Havenite War Operation Odysseus created a Medusan insurrection, using the A secret meeting of Hereditary President Harris'cabinet slaughter as a pretext for the intervention by a Havenite task confirmed that the Duquesne plan was fundamentally flawed. force. With most of the nearby single-system powers in bad enough shape that they would add little to the treasury, the People's Once the situation planetside stabilized, the task force Republic began to look further afield. It was at this point that commander would proclaim Haven's possession of the system, the preliminary plans were drafted for an attack on the Star as Manticore had demonstrated its inability to maintain Kingdom of Manticore, starting with a bid to gain control of order and public safety on the planet's surface. Operation the Basilisk terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction. Odysseus was planned around the command of Captain Lord Pavel Young. When he was replaced by Commander Honor Operation Odysseus Harrington, increased customs patrols and cooperation with Odysseus was designed to allow the People's Republic to the Native Protection Agency, Harrington's Marines stopped take the Basilisk system, giving them the ability to attack the the insurrection. Manticore Junction from Basilisk and Trevor's Star. While the planetside part of the operation was falling to Operation Odysseus hinged upon the Manticoran original pieces, both the Havenite embassy's courier boat and the act of annexation. Due to the political battle in the House of armed merchant cruiser PNSS Sirius broke orbit to contact the Lords, The Star Kingdom specifically denied sovereignty over task force to stand down. After disabling the courier boat's the planet of Medusa, establishing it as a native protectorate impeller nodes, HMS Fearless gave chase. to be released to the natives "at the earliest possible convenience."

Background Royal Manticoran Navy 2 October, 1900 PD. With the native uprising underway, Commander Honor Harrington PMSS Sirius broke orbit and began accelerating toward 1 x Couragous refit CL [Fearless, Veteran] the Basilisk system hyper limit. HMS Fearless gives chase, People's Navy determined to stop Sirius from contacting the suspected Captain Johan Coglin Havenite task force waiting just on the other side of the 1x Astra AMC [Sirius, Regular] hyper wall. Victory Conditions Setup The Manticoran side receives full points if Sirius is rendered This is intended to be a solitaire scenario, as both sides have unable to translate into hyper space, or unable to enter the limited options given the historical battle. Fearless begins Tellerman Wave, where the Havenite task force is hiding. 60 hexes astern of Sirius, both ships at rest relative to one The Havenite side recieves full points if and only if Fearless is another, but accelerating at their full thrust value along the completely destroyed, while Siruis is still able to translate into same axis. hyperspace.

Assuming the player will take the roll of Commander Historical Outcome Harrington, Sirius will continue to run in a straight line for After a gruelling stern chase. Fearless was battered almost the hyper limit until Fearless reaches a range of 10 hexes. At to scrap before Sirius began to decelerate and turn back to that time, Sirius will turn and attempt to close to finish off the finish her off. Commander Harrington was able to keep her smaller ship with close range fire, ensuring that no survivors wedge interposed as the range fell, snapping back at point are left. blank range to use her grav lance against Sirius' sidewall. With the sidewall down, Siruis was destroyed by Fearless' To make this a two player scenario, give the RMN player the remaning energy torpedo launchers. option of replacing Fearless with a Courageous-class CL. (One of Harringon's miracles was that Coglin didn't turn broadside in earlier, thinking she was commanding a stock Courageous.)

While the Admirality did not feel it was strong enough to Far more importantly in the long term, Manticore's Foreign seek a confrontation with Haven, the fallout from the Basilisk Office succeeed in forcing the Solarian League to place Incident was nonetheless severe. By Crown Proclamation, an embargo on all military technology to both sides. The any Haven-registered ship passing through the Junction, embargo was protested by many of the league's larger regardless of destination or normal diplomatic immunity, shipping companies, and caused considerable resentment was forced submit to boarding and search before she would among many League planets but greatly favored the Star be allowed passage. Moreover, no Havenite warship was Kingdom, with its more capable electronic systems. permitted transit under any circumstances. Operation Argus Manticore built an alliance of nearby star systems, asking Shortly after the technology embargo was put in place, the for basing rights on the Havenite axis of attack. Some People's Navy began planning Operation Argus. The key to allied systems had small shipyards, which freed the slips at Argus hinged upon a shipment of drone chassis procured Hephasteus and Vulcan for ships of the wall. clandestinely from rogue Solarian arms dealers by agents of Naval Intelligence. The drones were far beyond the People's Both sides looked to the Yeltsin's Star system as a thin point Republic's ability to reproduce, and while not up to Manticoran on the Manticoran defensive posture; with the Manticoran Standards, closer than anything the allies had expected to government courting Grayson, the People's Republic "sold" two face. modern Havenite warships to Masada, along with full crews.

The drones were inserted from well outside standard sensor The Masadan navy attacked Yeltsin's Star after a convoy had range. They were low powered, accelerating with a minute arrived with the delegation from Manticore. In the opening trickle of power and decelerating just as stealthily to take battle, the Grayson navy and single remaining Manticoran their places around the system ecliptic. Virtually every allied destroyer were almost completely eliminated by the Masadan system with the exception of Yeltson, Grendelsbane and the forces, acting in concert with their Havenite warships. Manticore system itself was eventually covered by an Argus network, which allowed the People's Navy to generate a Masada had their own agents within the Grayson government. massive amount of data on Manticoran deployment patterns After the initial attacks, the Masadans delayed the followup and was instrumental in the initial force deployments and attacks while their agent (Jared Mayhew, the cousing of planning for future operations. Protector Benjamin) attempted a coup.

Operation Jerico With the failure of the coup and the subsequent destruction of Following the Basilisk incident, both Manticore and Haven the hidden Masadan base on Blackbird, the Havenite captain knew a full scale conflict was coming. Over the next eighteen of MNS Thunder of God advised that the Masadan government months, the People's Navy moved to take several systems to surrender, as there was no longer any hope of driving Grayson serve as forward bases against Manticore. and Manticore apart.

The Masadans disagreed, and took over Thunder of God.

Background Set up on the edge of the second map, with any combination 19 May, 1903 PD. After the failed Macabean plot and the or vectors up to a total of 12 towards the opposite map edge. battle of Blackbird, the Masadan crew of MNS Thunder of God stage a mutiny and take over the ship, and then moved to Royal Manticoran Navy make an attack on Grayson. After the Thunder of God has been placed,and vectors HMS Fearless and HMS Troubadour, the two remaining ships declared, set up both Manticoran ships in formation with of Captain Harrington's squadron, intercepted Thunder of God a vector of 16, anywhere on the first map at any altitude well short of the planet. desired.

Setup Victory Conditions Use both maps, small hexes. Score victory points as normal. Captain Honor Harrington Historical Outcome 1 x Star Knight CA [Fearless, Elite] Fearless has lost one laser, one missile, one point defense Using the deployed FTL recon drones to give herself a real• cluster and 2 magazine dots on her port side. Her starboard time picture of the enemy's movements. Captain Harrington side is down one laser and she has taken 2 UDSThits. Her was able to generate an intercept regardless of how the gravitic array is completely destroyed. Masadan ship maneuvered. After a series of long range 1x Chanson DD [Troubudour, Veteran] engagements, in which HMS Troubadour was destroyed, Troubadour has lost two missile tubes and three magazine HMS Fearless faced MNS Thunder of God in a final short range dots on her starboard side, in addition to 2 UDSThits. energy duel. Fearless was saved due in no small part to her captain, but Masadan Navy also due to the timely intervention of Admiral White Haven's Sword of the Faithful Matthew Simonds battlecruisers. Too far out to generate an intercept in time. 1x Sultan BC [Thunder of God, Untrained] White Haven's initial broadsides nonetheless generated Thunder of God has lost 3 UDST boxes due to the damage enough confusion on the blinded Masadan ship for Fearless done to the boat bay. to rake across her bow, destroying the Masadan ship with all hands. Over the next year, the Manticoran Alliance grew, adding Once the RMN had been unbalanced by the attacks, spreading systems to form an entire network of interlocking fortified its forces among the less important member systems in an supply and maintenance bases along the frontier. attempt to protect them from attack, the People's Navy woudl move on Yeltsin and Hancock, in an attempt to crust the local While the Alliance was expanding, the People's Republic forces and secure a launch point for further operations against secured a number of systems deep within alliance territory to the alliance. serve as forward bases for their attacks. Phase one of operation Perseus involved a series of minor Operation Perseus provocations. These include violations of alliance territory and Operation Perseus was the codename for the initial attacks on attacks on convoys in alliance space. Manticoran territory. The operation called for an increasingly heavy series of raids and diversionary attacks on allied systems in an attempt to draw the Manticoran navy into strategic dispersal.

Background People's Navy 12 January, 1905 PD. The first phase of operation Perseus Captain Scott Beaudway involved a series of minor provocations and raids all along 2x Bastogne DD [Lublnjaroslaw] the frontier. One such provocation was the attack on Convoy MCT1, schedule from Manticore to Clearaway to Talisman. Set up stationary anywhere on the second map, each Just after departing from Clearaway on the second leg of destroyer's position marked in secret. The destroyers their trip, the convoy came under long ranged fire from a pair are considered hidden until either an opposing warship of Bastogne-c\ass destroyers. approaches within 5 hexes or they open fire.

Setup Victory Conditions Havenites score double points for each merchant destroyed Use both maps, smaller hexes. by their fire. Manticorans score points for every damage point inflicted (past armor) on a Havenite ship. If any Royal Manticoran Navy Manticoran warship approaches within 5 hexes of a Havenite Commander Karen Isaacs ship, score double points for that ship, in addition to the 1 x Courageous CL [Courageous] damage. 1x Falcon DD [Kestrel] 3x Merchants [Ace of Spades, Kingsford, Star Traveler] Historical Outcome Set up in the middle of the first map, with a vector of 10 Beaudway's destroyers fired three broadsides at long range towards the Havenite side. The merchants must be within 10 before making translation and escaping. HMMS Ace of hexes of each other while the warships may be deployed in Spades was completely destroyed and HMMS Star Traveler front or behind up to 15 hexes from the nearest merchant. suffered serious damage. The Manticoren forces were not close enough for a positive identification, and chose to let the attackers flee rather than abandon their remaining charges.

Similar attacks on convoys occurred at Ramon, Quentin Once word of the outcome of the attacks reached Barnett, and Yeltsin. In each case, either Manticore or her allies lost an additional wave of attackes followed. The Argus network shipping and lives. The Yeltsin attack was the most severe, supplied a wealth of data on Manticoran patrol schedules, destroying all three merchants and their escorts. Other attacks allowing the People's Navy to attack patrol ships in Poicters, hit Candor, Klein Station and Zuckerman. Talbot, Mendoza and Zanzibar. In each case, the Havenites sent sufficient forces to guarantee the destruction of the The attacks showed that someone (presumably Haven) had patrolling ships. intelligence on both system pickets and convoy schedules, but opinions differed on what the goal of the incidents was. Although the intensity of the attacks had increased, Manticore had held its own in actual encounters. The Havenites had The Admiralty strengthened escorting forces attached to succeeded in drawing forces away from the eventual targets of convoys in alliance space, redeployed forces to counter the the attacks. threats to their allied systems. Background People's Navy 8 February, 1905 PD. Using the intelligence on patrol Commodore Ivan Yuranovich schedules provided by the Argus network. Commodore Battlecruiser Divisions 143 and 144 Yuranovich's two divisions of Battlecruisers ambush a single 4x Sultan BC [Abdali, Barbarossa, Sinjar, Tolek] Star Knight, placing themselves directly along the path of the Manticoran ship's partol route. Setup within 5 hexes of each other (or in formation if desired) with a vector of 16 towards the Manticoran ship. Setup Use Both maps, small hexes. Victory Conditions Star Knight scores victory points based on damage done. Royal Manticoran Navy The Havenite side scores victory points as normal. Captain Seamus O'Donnell 1 x Star Knight CA [Star Knight] Historical Outcome Commodore Yuranovich's ships split up and maneuvered Setup anywhere on the closest map edge, with a vector of to engage Star Knight from multiple angles. While 16 directly towards the second map. Captain O'Donnel exibited some excellent ship handling, allowing him damage two of the attackers, he was finally overwhelmed as the attackers closed from all sides.

Background than 12 toward the opposing side. The merchants are not 14 February, 1905 PD. Convoy MM3, from Manticore to placed on the map. Mendoza, is ambushed while in hyperspace. The People's Navy suffered an intelligence failure where the escort was People's Navy concerned, expecting only a pair of destroyers. Commodore Frances Northam Heavy Cruiser Divisions 91 and 92 Commodore Northam felt she still had a significant force 4x Sword CA [Drusus, Foil, Jian, Shamshir] advantage and pressed the attack anyway. Set up all four ships in formation anywhere along the map Setup edge. The squadron's initial vector may be up to 8 towards Use both maps, small hexes. the opposing edge.

The scenario rakes place in hyperspace. All missile range Victory Conditions modifiers are doubled and beam damage uses the next Score points normally for ships destroyed. In addition, higher range band. the Manticoran side receives points for every merchant not intercepted by the Havenite warships. To intercept a Royal Manticoran Navy merchant, a warship must have have intact gravities, hyper Captain Ethan Richardson generator and warshawski sails. 1x Apollo CL [Hermes] 1x Courageous CL [Courageous] Historical Outcome 2x Chanson DD [Nightingale, Bard] Commodore Northam succeeded in the destruction of the 3x Large Merchant [Starlight, Judith, Marrakesh] entire escort, but her forces were sufficiently damaged that both Starlight and Marrakesh were able to escape Set up all four warships in formation anywhere along the destruction. map edge. The squadron's initial vector should be no more

The Manticoran response to the escalation of attacks, and the proof of Havenite involvement was to close the Manticore Wormhole Junction to Havenite shipping, eject all diplomatic courier boats from Alliance space without any formal explanation. In addition, the navy began shadowing and harassing Havenite convoys moving through Alliance territory.

Uncertain of the intentions of the Havenites, but certain that an attack was coming shortly, the Admirality had started to redeploy to strengthen the frontier further. Background Roll randomly to determine in which numbered hex the 19 February, 1905 PD. Commander Ingala's HMS Tenor translation point falls (1 dl 00 for each pair of digits, rerolling and her division mate Peregrine were dispatched from the any invalid result). Both ships must deploy within 5 hexes of Poicter's picket to scout the Santander system. They were that point with no initial vectors. ambushed just out of hyper by a trio of Havenite destroyers. Victory Conditions Setup The Manticoran ships have one full turn (eight segments) Use a single map, small hexes. until their hyper generators cycle and they can translate back into hyperspace. The Havenite forces may follow into People's Navy the Alpha band if desired, where the Manticoran ships must Captain Ann Pratchet remain for another 8 segments before making another Destroyer Division 131 translation. 3x Bostogne DD [Poznan, Lubin, Kessler] Historical Outcome Deploy anywhere on either map with any vector. All ships were completely surprised when HMS Tenor translated almost directly into the path of PNS Poznan. Royal Manticoran Navy The resulting energy-range duel left Ingala's ship heavily Commander Michael Ingala damaged, but he managed to destroy the Havenite warship. 1 x Chanson DD [Tenor] Follow-up salvos from Lubin and Kessler resulted in the 1x Falcon DD [Peregrine] destruction of Tenor, though Peregrine was able to hyper out safely.

Background People's Navy 23 February, 1905 PD. Yalta was scheduled as one of the Vice Admiral Quinn Williams phase three objectives of Perseus. When Admiral Parnell Battlecruiser Divisions 62 and 63 launched his offensive on Yeltsin, he ordered all units to 4x Sultan BC [Fatih, Tinaly, Mehmed, Yildirim] stand down and prepare for the Manticoran counterattack. Heavy Cruiser Squadron 9 Williams missed the courier by hours, having moved on 8x Sword CA [Drusus, Foil, Jian, Shamshir, Estoc, Poignard, his own authority when Argus showed the system picket Khopesh, Raiden] orbitingwith cold impellers. Light Cruiser Divisions 143 and 144 6x Conqueror CL [Alvarado, Montezuma, Huangdi, Caesar, Williams'task force made a crash translation, coming out of Attilla, Babar] hyper with the highest possible velocity in an attempt to Destroyer Division 81 pin Styles'forces against the planet, with no possibility of 4x Bastogne DD [Krakow, Busko, Malbork, Charleroi] escape. Victory Conditions Setup The Manticoran defenders are heavily outnumbered and Use both maps, small hexes. This scenario makes use of the cannot hope to hold the system. The Manticoran side scores squadron rules, and can be played with the content of a double victory points for every Havenite ship destroyed. single box (at one box mini per ship type, and multiple ships in one squadron). Historical Outcome Rear Admiral Styles'defense of the system was one destined Royal Manticoran Navy to be used as an example of how not to defend against an Real Admiral Harold Styles overwhelming force. Admiral Styles panicked, splitting his Heavy Cruiser Squadron 13 screen off from the main force to cut across the attacker's 1 x Crusader CA [Tancred] stern as they closed with his cruisers. 5x Prince Consort CA [Prince Justin, Prince Stephen, Princess Angelique, Princess Joanna, Princess Michelle, Prince Harold] Whatever his intentions may have been. Admiral Styles' Light Cruiser Division 124 forces were unable to coordinate properly, and the 3x Apollo CL [Iris, Leto, Artemis] screening units were destroyed in detail before the attackers 1x Courageous CL [Resolute] reached missile range of the cruiser squadron. Admiral Destroyer Division 72 Styles was captured shortly after the destuction of his 3x Chanson DD [Choralist, Soprano, Maestro] flagship. One of side effect of the Argus network was a reduction allow him to spread out his forces to cover the allied systems in Havenite scouting missions in systems covered by the of Zanzibar, Alizon and Yorik. network. This had the desired effect of encouraging a false sense of security in the Manticoran station commanders. When Admiral Rollins received the Argus data showing Parks' departure, he moved almost immediately to take Hancock, Vice Admiral Yanck Parks, commander of the Hancock task hoping to destroy the repair base. force, felt that the lack of scouting missions in Hancock would

Background Deploy anywhere along the edge of the first map, with total 1 March, 1905 PD. As soon as Admiral Rollins'forces began vectors of 12 towards the opposite edge. to move towards the hyper limit for a least-time course to Hancock station, the nearest picket division of light cruisers People's Navy translated into hyper to warn Admiral Sarnow. Commander Jean-Pierre Oglive Light Cruiser Divisions 191 and 192 Unknown to the Manticorans, Admiral Rollins had detached 6x Conqueror CL [Napoleon, Alvarado, Montezuma, Cortes, a short squadron of light cruisers ten hours before. Trapped Huangdi, Babar] between the task force behind them and the superior force in front of them, the Manticorans were forces to fight their Deploy anywhere on the second map, with vectors totaling 6 way past the oncoming cruisers. in any direction.

Setup Victory Conditions Use both maps, small hexes. The Manticoran forces must disengage off the opposite map edge wth no Havenite ships within 20 hexes. The Manticoran This scenario takes place in hyperspace. All missile range side scores full victory points for every ships that escapes in modifiers are boubled, and beam weapons use the next addition to vicory points for every attacking ship destroyed. higher range bracked to determine damage. The Havenite side scores full victory points for every ship destroyed. Royal Manticoran Navy Captain April Cole Historical Outcome Light Cruiser Division 151 Caught between the task force behind them and the 3x Apollo CL [Chiron, Poseidon, Amaterasu] squadron in front, all three Manticoran ships were destroyed at the cost of only a single Havenite light cruiser.

Battle of Hancock gotten most of his ships out, yet his lead squadrons had taken Upon arrival at Hancock Station, Admiral Rollins held back a terrible pounding, and without Seaford's repair facilities, his main force, sending Admiral Chin's dreadnoughts with a he'd been driven clear back to Barnett with his damaged units battlecruiser escort. Chin's forces were harassed by the single while his courier boats reported the disaster to Haven. Manticoran battlecruiser squadron, using a combination of missile pods, minefields and daring tactics. Reduced to less Second Battle of Yeltsin than half her pre-battle strength, Admiral Chin's remaining Admiral Parnell fared little better in Yeltsin. He'd gone into dreadnoughts were forced to surrender with the arrival of Yeltsin believing he had a three-to-one advantage, only to Admiral Danislev's reinforcements. find himself facing a force even stronger than his own. Using their FTL capable recon drones, the Manticoran forces had The rest of Admiral Parks'"dispersed" task force dropped out been able to preposition their powered-down wall of battle of hyper thirty minutes too late to intercept Rollins. His escape perfectly. hadn't saved him in the end. Reinforced to almost a third again of his prewar strength, Parks moved instantly against Seaford Their opening broadsides had taken him totally by surprise. Nine and Rollins'weakened task force. Seaford's defenders A quarter of his fleet had been crippled or destroyed almost destroyed ahandful of ships, and damaged others, but only before he knew the enemy was there. Admiral Parnell fought three of their own capital ships had survived. Rollins'flagship clear of Yeltsin with barely half the ships he'd taken into it, and hadn't been one of them. PNS Barnett had blown up early in half of them had been so battered their return to Barnett had the action, killing Rollins and his entire staff, and the command taken more than twice as long as the passage out. confusion that followed had finished Seaford off. Second Yeltsin requires units that are not in Ship Book 1. Parks left one battle squadron to hold Seaford and returned to Orders of Battle and tactical notations will be listed in a future Hancock, just in time to meet Admiral Coatsworth as he moved product. The after action section is here to show the tempo of in, expecting to find Rollins in possession. Coatsworth had the war in an historical context. Training Scenarios All navies have a selection of training simulations used to prepare their starship commanders for any situation. Combat within a grav wave is an uncommon experience, but the possibility of interception, however slight, does exist. All navies include warshawski-sail tactics as part of their training curriculum. This is a single-player exercise designed to test your ship handling skills. Setup The attacker and defender each roll 2d10- to determine Setup their force sizes. Alternately, for a more balanced scenario, Designate a roughly spherical region of 6 interconnected roll once and make both sides identical. hexes, stacked in 2 levels as the Manticoran Wormhole Junction. Choose one of the six hexes as your outbound Roll Force queue. 0 1xDD 1 2xDD Place your ship anywhere on the map at any altitude and 2 1xCL,1xDD any vector. The object is of the scenario is to maneuver 3 1xCL,2xDD your ship and come to rest exactly on the target hex 4 1xCA without passing through any of the other hexes in the 5 1xCA,1xCL junction. 6 1xCA,2xCL 7 1xBC 8 1xBC, 1xCA 9 1xBC,2xCA

This is a classic double blind training scenario, variants of Set up on either side of the map, with any desired vector. which are used by both sides. Score victory points as normal.

Aach player rolls 2d10- on the table below to determine their force allocation. One player is the attacker, the other the defender. Asteroids, specially designed sensor drones and even Roll Force obsolete warships are all used as targets for gunnery 0 2xDD practice. 1 1xCL,1xDD 2 2xCL This can be played as a solitaire scenario or with a group. It 3 1xCL,2xDD teaches both ship handling and the fundamentals of beam 4 2xCL, 1xDD combat. All players should be using either the same ship 5 IxCA, 1xCL, 1xDD class or at least the same type (destroyer, light cruiser, etc.) 6 1xCA,2xCL 7 1xBCorAMC,2xDD Setup 8 IxBCorAMC, IxCL, 1xDD Place at least 20 markers at various altitudes around the 9 1x BCor AMC,2xCL map to represent stationary asteroids. In addition, place one marker for every player with vectors totaling no more Once the forces have been chosen, the attacker chooses than 12 to represent target drones. When the target the location of the battle, whether in normal space, hype drones leave the map edge or reach a height (or depth) 10 space or a grav wave. greater than the highest (or lowest) ship, bring them in or the opposite map edge or invert their altitude. The defender may deploy in any pattern desired and places his units on the edge of the first map first, with An target (asteroid or drone) is destroyed by the first shot, total vectors no move than 12. The attacker's units may regardless of damage. The point value for the target is the be placed within 10 hexes of the edge of the second map, total damage of the attack. with a vectors of no more than 8. Variant Once the defending units are destroyed, the merchants After the first ten "kills," give the remaining targets must be captured. To capture a merchant, the attacker sidewalls of strength 10. must get one of its units into beam range with a crossing vector of less than 5. Once that happens, the attacker is assumed to have dropped a pinnace with a boarding party and may move on to the next merchant as necessary.