The Dawn Star and Chihiro

Weird Harold wrote:

Joat42 wrote:Considering that, it seems entirely possible that the Hamilcar is still around. But how to survive almost a millennia?

I'm almost certain that RFC has explicitly stated that Hamilcar was sent into the sun and will NOT be reappearing in the series.

I would like to see that, because I don't remember that at all. Not saying it isn't true, just saying I don't remember reading it.

Isilith wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:
I'm almost certain that RFC has explicitly stated that Hamilcar was sent into the sun and will NOT be reappearing in the series.

I would like to see that, because I don't remember that at all. Not saying it isn't true, just saying I don't remember reading it.

I keep reading about Safehold's single Moon and thinking 'Dahak'.

That said, single moons big enough to form noticeable, sailor-friendly tides must be relatively rare - our Moon is thought to be the result of an early collision between it and Earth. So did Shan Wei and the Terraforming team look for a planet with a single moon, or did they build a moon?

Given that Safehold is based on Heirs of Empire, I wouldn't put it past RFC's sense of humour to have hidden something on the moon - again.

Bluesqueak wrote:That said, single moons big enough to form noticeable, sailor-friendly tides must be relatively rare - our Moon is thought to be the result of an early collision between it and Earth. So did Shan Wei and the Terraforming team look for a planet with a single moon, or did they build a moon?

Given that Safehold is based on Heirs of Empire, I wouldn't put it past RFC's sense of humour to have hidden something on the moon - again.

While changing an orbit of dwarf planet so it would be gravity captured by larger body is probably within Federation tech capabilities, I really doubt that Shain-Wei would do anything like that. It would require energies on such level, that the whole point of Safehold's "low-tech hideout" would be moot; Gbaba would clearly notice system-scale engineering.

Dilandu wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:That said, single moons big enough to form noticeable, sailor-friendly tides must be relatively rare - our Moon is thought to be the result of an early collision between it and Earth. So did Shan Wei and the Terraforming team look for a planet with a single moon, or did they build a moon?

Given that Safehold is based on Heirs of Empire, I wouldn't put it past RFC's sense of humour to have hidden something on the moon - again.

While changing an orbit of dwarf planet so it would be gravity captured by larger body is probably within Federation tech capabilities, I really doubt that Shain-Wei would do anything like that. It would require energies on such level, that the whole point of Safehold's "low-tech hideout" would be moot; Gbaba would clearly notice system-scale engineering.

The whole point of travelling for ten years was to be far enough away that the Gbaba wouldn't notice any necessary engineering. In terms of the energy expenditure required, I'd have to bow to planetary engineering specialists - but again, if this is a bit of a Dahak joke, he did move Iapetus.

But consider: Shan Wei is in command of the Terraforming team. Langhorne isn't there, nor, as far as we know, are any of his Archangels. Likewise, Nimue isn't there. Whether that moon was present when humans got there, or was part of terraforming the planet, no-one currently on Safehold would know if a few bootstrap tech units were left there for Safeholdians to find.

We're talking about life and death for the entire human race, here. Shan Wei was convinced that humans would eventually rediscover technology, and venture out into space. She reeducated colonists to know some of Earth's history, she helped hide Nimue 's PICA, but what else might she have done?

As boosters for space travel goes, a biggish moon within a few days travel is quite an encouragement. If Jerry Knowles had failed, if Nimue fails - then when the Safeholdians restart their journey into the universe, will they discover a complete history of the human race, a description of the Gbaba and a load of equipment and information to help them on their way?

Bluesqueak wrote:
The whole point of travelling for ten years was to be far enough away that the Gbaba wouldn't notice any necessary engineering.

With all respect, but if Gbaba were so dumb that they wouldn't notice the energy output of planetary-moving engine powering up - they would live in Terrain Federation zoos.

Dilandu wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:
The whole point of travelling for ten years was to be far enough away that the Gbaba wouldn't notice any necessary engineering.

With all respect, but if Gbaba were so dumb that they wouldn't notice the energy output of planetary-moving engine powering up - they would live in Terrain Federation zoos.

And how would they notice it from 100's of LY away?

Bluesqueak wrote:

Isilith wrote:I'm almost certain that RFC has explicitly stated that Hamilcar was sent into the sun and will NOT be reappearing in the series.

Weird Harold wrote:I would like to see that, because I don't remember that at all. Not saying it isn't true, just saying I don't remember reading it.

I keep reading about Safehold's single Moon and thinking 'Dahak'.

That said, single moons big enough to form noticeable, sailor-friendly tides must be relatively rare - our Moon is thought to be the result of an early collision between it and Earth. So did Shan Wei and the Terraforming team look for a planet with a single moon, or did they build a moon?

Given that Safehold is based on Heirs of Empire, I wouldn't put it past RFC's sense of humour to have hidden something on the moon - again.

Correction: Heirs of Empire incorporated the church Sean and Sandy and the kids had to deal with because, at that time, I didn't think i was ever going to get to write the Safehold books, which had been pitched to Jim baen at the same time as HH.

Isilith wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:
The whole point of travelling for ten years was to be far enough away that the Gbaba wouldn't notice any necessary engineering.

Dilandu wrote:With all respect, but if Gbaba were so dumb that they wouldn't notice the energy output of planetary-moving engine powering up - they would live in Terrain Federation zoos.

And how would they notice it from 100's of LY away?

That was sort of the purpose of the exercise.

Isilith wrote:

Dilandu wrote:
With all respect, but if Gbaba were so dumb that they wouldn't notice the energy output of planetary-moving engine powering up - they would live in Terrain Federation zoos.

And how would they notice it from 100's of LY away?

Exactly.

Energy requirements that are massive on the human scale are tiny on the stellar scale - and there is a natural variation in any star's energy output. If there wasn't, the colonisation team would never have dared use any high tech terraforming at all. The colonising fleet was also paranoid enough to split itself in two during the terraforming period, just in case the energies used were detected.

The Federation were capable of turning planets into fortified redoubts, which kind of hints that they were really impressive at building structures in space. And RFC does take care to mention that Safehold has one, repeat one moon. Course, that could just be so that Safehold has Earth like tides, but if you've got an orbiting bombardment facility built by mad archangels, then what, exactly, is on that flipping moon?

runsforcelery wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:
I keep reading about Safehold's single Moon and thinking 'Dahak'.

That said, single moons big enough to form noticeable, sailor-friendly tides must be relatively rare - our Moon is thought to be the result of an early collision between it and Earth. So did Shan Wei and the Terraforming team look for a planet with a single moon, or did they build a moon?

Given that Safehold is based on Heirs of Empire, I wouldn't put it past RFC's sense of humour to have hidden something on the moon - again.

Correction: Heirs of Empire incorporated the church Sean and Sandy and the kids had to deal with because, at that time, I didn't think i was ever going to get to write the Safehold books, which had been pitched to Jim baen at the same time as HH.

You were thinking of Safehold that far back? I didn't know that.

Incidentally, I love Heirs of Empire. Thank you for writing it.