Medusans - what's going on?

So.....

On Basilisk Station essentially left Medusa on the edge of a serious scientific shift:

Even if we nail him, there's no way to put this genie back into the bottle if he's taught the Medusans how to build the things. In fact, they're bound to figure out how to make heavier weapons—real, honest-to-God artillery—so unless we want to take over the role of guaranteeing the Delta's security with off-world weaponry, we're going to have to encourage the city-states to learn how to make the goddamned things just so they can defend themselves!

This isn't Marduk in the Empire of Man series (despite the multi-limbed giant aliens) where they already had guns and Roger just handed out a few ideas on improving them, this is ancient Mesopotamia getting artillery and rifles, and at least some of the science which sits behind it.

Plus, it's been several decades since that point, and during that time there've been two major incidents which involved off-worlders:

1) the massacre of ten thousand plus of the shaman's followers, which puts it in the same order of Magnitude of the Battle of Kadesh (20,000 per side), the biggest battle of the ancient world and a change-the-course-of-history type event.

2) Giscard's destruction of the orbital infrastructure, which - whilst I'm sure (Giscard was a fairly good person) there were no intentional eridani violations, blowing that much stuff up in orbit must result in some debris fall, not to mention bankrupting anyone in the city states whose economy depended on off-world trade.

Which would underline to the Medusans (at least, anyone with a brain) that whatever 'cultural protection' the NPA wanted, they couldn't afford to ignore 'off-world', and getting more understanding of what was happening in space would be important.

In addition, we know there was a sea change in Medusa's Legal status:

In fact, the Act of Annexation had been amended in ways that neither Countess New Kiev nor Baron High Ridge had ever imagined in their worst nightmares.

Not to mention that Manticore - in becoming the 'Star Empire' and absorbing Trevor's Star and Talbott - has clearly accepted 'open and declared sovereignty' for other worlds as a concept as part of its legal corpus.

It would be interesting to see if the same concept would be applied retroactively to Medusa.



1860s - Wormhole discovered, Basilisk is annexed

+40 years - Shaman's forces massacred, firearms introduced

+13 years - Operation Icarus - mass destruction of orbital infrastructure

+9 years - Shadow of Victory ('Now')

61 years isn't a huge amount of time, but it is definitely enough for some dramatic changes, especially if Manticore is permitting itself to take a more active hand.

I think Giscard was able to control Basilisk's orbital space for several hours - and textev made a point of mentioning he had enough time to allow an evacuation to be carried out. Although some people weren't able to get off in time, that suggests he was able to set up careful fire plans which would minimise or eliminate debris heading for the planet.

Indeed, his ships would have been in a position to clean up any dangerous debris before they left.

As to the rest, I don't know. There's one point you didn't address - treecats. They may be setting a precedent for sentient alien races.

munroburton wrote:I think Giscard was able to control Basilisk's orbital space for several hours - and textev made a point of mentioning he had enough time to allow an evacuation to be carried out. Although some people weren't able to get off in time, that suggests he was able to set up careful fire plans which would minimise or eliminate debris heading for the planet.

Indeed, his ships would have been in a position to clean up any dangerous debris before they left.

As to the rest, I don't know. There's one point you didn't address - treecats. They may be setting a precedent for sentient alien races.

HoS mentions some details about the current state of the Medusans. They are moving towards autonomy inside the Empire as full citizens with representation. Many Medusans are attending higher education in Manticore.

Somebody has to say it. I'll throw myself on the grenade before it gets any bigger.


The Medusans are being trained to crew all those Sollie SD's that Honor captured.
Since they are trilaterally symetrical 2 Medusans would equal 3 humans. Instead of the Sollie ships needing 6000 crew, with the Medusans aboard you can reduce the requirement to 4000.

jdtinIA wrote:Somebody has to say it. I'll throw myself on the grenade before it gets any bigger.


The Medusans are being trained to crew all those Sollie SD's that Honor captured.
Since they are trilaterally symetrical 2 Medusans would equal 3 humans. Instead of the Sollie ships needing 6000 crew, with the Medusans aboard you can reduce the requirement to 4000.

Let's not forget the Treecat Marine detachments.

jdtinIA wrote:Somebody has to say it. I'll throw myself on the grenade before it gets any bigger.


The Medusans are being trained to crew all those Sollie SD's that Honor captured.
Since they are trilaterally symetrical 2 Medusans would equal 3 humans. Instead of the Sollie ships needing 6000 crew, with the Medusans aboard you can reduce the requirement to 4000.

And their bodies may be able to withstand significantly more accel than human bodies.

"Open it up Max Stilts. Put the pedal to the medal!"

Now if only the Sollies can break "the secrets of compensation."

OTOH, I'm leaning to the possibility that they would be able to withstand more accel. They'll all be hopped up on Meth -- er Mek. That stuff's worse than PCP. A man will elect to run through a wall on the effects of PCP. With the door open.

If I remember correctly, Stilties are quite bit taller than humans. Will they fit under the deckheads and through the hatches?

Cheers, John

cthia wrote:

jdtinIA wrote:Somebody has to say it. I'll throw myself on the grenade before it gets any bigger.


The Medusans are being trained to crew all those Sollie SD's that Honor captured.
Since they are trilaterally symetrical 2 Medusans would equal 3 humans. Instead of the Sollie ships needing 6000 crew, with the Medusans aboard you can reduce the requirement to 4000.

And their bodies may be able to withstand significantly more accel than human bodies.

"Open it up Max Stilts. Put the pedal to the medal!"

Now if only the Sollies can break "the secrets of compensation."

OTOH, I'm leaning to the possibility that they would be able to withstand more accel. They'll all be hopped up on Meth -- er Mek. That stuff's worse than PCP. A man will elect to run through a wall on the effects of PCP. With the door open.

There would probably be a problem during red alerts as well, when everyone are hurriedly going off in many different directions getting to respective stations. Stilties are defined as being awkward and clumsy, iirc.

Hence, during a red alert there'll be a pile up on corridors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

John Prigent wrote:If I remember correctly, Stilties are quite bit taller than humans. Will they fit under the deckheads and through the hatches?

Cheers, John

cthia wrote:

jdtinIA wrote:Somebody has to say it. I'll throw myself on the grenade before it gets any bigger.


The Medusans are being trained to crew all those Sollie SD's that Honor captured.
Since they are trilaterally symetrical 2 Medusans would equal 3 humans. Instead of the Sollie ships needing 6000 crew, with the Medusans aboard you can reduce the requirement to 4000.

And their bodies may be able to withstand significantly more accel than human bodies.

"Open it up Max Stilts. Put the pedal to the medal!"

Now if only the Sollies can break "the secrets of compensation."

OTOH, I'm leaning to the possibility that they would be able to withstand more accel. They'll all be hopped up on Meth -- er Mek. That stuff's worse than PCP. A man will elect to run through a wall on the effects of PCP. With the door open.

They're all in rehab at the BFCFM. The Betty Ford Clinic for Medusans.