Shannon Foraker

cthia wrote:According to wiki, Sonja's grandfather Robert Henphill was Third Space Lord. I wonder if he raised her.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:Doesn't seem to be necessary. Her family held the Barony of Low Delhi and doesn't seem to lack for resources. The SKM was at peace, there's no reason for her parents to be MIA. Clearly her grandfather was a great influence on her (HoS says that she inherited his gift for stepping on toes), but that can happen in a regular, functional family. That might be especially true if neither parent was in the Navy: she'd have latched on her grandfather as the figure to emulate.

cthia wrote:Do you notice that there is no mention of a significant other in Shannon's life? Or Sonja's for that matter. Even Honor had a date in college, didn't she?

We all want to see Shannon get bonded, but it seems she isn't even "bonding" with a significant other. Could her social skills be a side effect from getting her heart broken by a previous lover?

If she prefers women, that's okay by me too. It could certainly develop into an interesting relationship with Sonja, an older woman, who may prefer women as well; and who can teach her a thing or two about "taking a load off."

Or could there be daddy issues? It would be sad if either of them were abused or neglected or had a bad life as kids. At any rate, who in their family did they inherit their strong will from? The mother, the father, the uncle, an aunt, some other relative, or an acquaintance of the family.

Was either an orphan? Is either of them a genie in the bottle? Do either of them have / had any siblings?

I headcanoned that
- Shannon had a boyfriend who cheated on her, so she hacked him. Given her low political reliability because of many factors, she was too busy until post-PRH to find anyone, and didn't want to after getting her heart broken.

- Under the Republic of Haven, she's CO of Bolthole, and can't find anyone there because of Chain of Command issues. She's also too busy to bother.

- She never had great social skills, as she's been busy hacking things to stay alive (like her PN BuPers file to change some elements of her past to up her political reliability score).

- She and Sonja will end up together, after slowly becoming closer while working on tech. Publicly, they claim their date nights are Sonja or Shannon running a tech briefing for the other. Eventually, people figure things out, and in a repeat of everyone knowing about Honor/Paul, everyone knows about them, and lets those date nights happen.
Would chain of command even enter into it between Shannon and Sonja? Are they in the same chain of command?

If either of them had a significant other, would they be allowed at Bolthole? Like woe, their problems could stem from plain old sexual frustration.

According to wiki, Sonja's grandfather Robert Henphill was Third Space Lord. I wonder if he raised her.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

ThinksMarkedly wrote:Doesn't seem to be necessary. Her family held the Barony of Low Delhi and doesn't seem to lack for resources. The SKM was at peace, there's no reason for her parents to be MIA. Clearly her grandfather was a great influence on her (HoS says that she inherited his gift for stepping on toes), but that can happen in a regular, functional family. That might be especially true if neither parent was in the Navy: she'd have latched on her grandfather as the figure to emulate.

Actually, the title of the Barony may be the clue.

Robert Hemphill was Baron Low Delhi in 1855 and had just retired. That means he was pre-prolong and of an age sufficient enough that warranted retirement. But even as 1900, Sonja wasn't Baroness New Delhi yet. That means there must have been someone else between the two of them in succession for the title. Occam's Razor says it's Sonja's parents (father, if they keep the surname-from-the-father rule).

Admittedly, it could be an older sibling of hers or of her father, or even a cousin from an older uncle or aunt, who held the title until the mid-1910s. But that requires that the line ended without issue. Since she was already the heiress for the barony in 1900, that means this person would have already been childless and hadn't produced an heir for roughly 15 years.

Shannon_Foraker wrote:

ThinksMarkedly wrote:
(SNIP)

Actually, the title of the Barony may be the clue.

Robert Hemphill was Baron Low Delhi in 1855 and had just retired. That means he was pre-prolong and of an age sufficient enough that warranted retirement. But even as 1900, Sonja wasn't Baroness New Delhi yet. That means there must have been someone else between the two of them in succession for the title. Occam's Razor says it's Sonja's parents (father, if they keep the surname-from-the-father rule).

Admittedly, it could be an older sibling of hers or of her father, or even a cousin from an older uncle or aunt, who held the title until the mid-1910s. But that requires that the line ended without issue. Since she was already the heiress for the barony in 1900, that means this person would have already been childless and hadn't produced an heir for roughly 15 years.

When did she become Baroness Low Delhi, instead of heir to the barony?

solbergb wrote:Letssee...

Tremain has social skills. If he is interested in Shannon and has time to work with, he'll gauge his approach based on what he knows of her and how receptive she is likely to be. He won't have to be clubbed over the head or matchmaked.

SHANNON might have to be clubbed on the head with the possibility. But only in the nicest way.

Hemphill had proven administrative skills and R&D chops but House of Steel indicates that some of why she got a command was to both give her credibility and to give her some real life experience. Also, really, there were a lot of bright people at Weyland and vast care taken to preserve work. They could (and did eventually) afford to lose the occasional person to combat.

Shannon, by contrast, came up in the fire of the first Havenite war as a tactical specialist. NOBODY is going to question her knowledge of the "shooter's" point of view. So there was no need to "season" her. What most would find surprising is that she grew into the administrative role....but she came into it after it was known how important her technical chops and imagination were. "Old Shannon" would have been a disaster in a command position, however good she was as a staff officer. "New Shannon" post-Bolthole would probably be an adequate commander, as she's learned something about managing people. But the Alliance needs an awesome R&D director a hell of a lot more than another "pretty good" captain.

MaxxQ wrote:

quark wrote:I wonder if she'll be adopted

There was a snerk a couple years or so ago from RFC that "a certain tac witch" would be adopted/bonded - or something to that effect. IMO, it's not really a matter of "if" but "when".

cthia wrote:If a Treecat does bond with Shannon, his name should be Warlock. The Witch and the Warlock!