Honorverse ramblings and musings

cthia wrote:

PeterZ wrote:quote="cthia""Treecats are attracted to Rational positive attitude." LOL

Which is a relative thing. And man will surely purport to know what rational and positive is to another species. Of course we know. We are man. Hu-man is also quite certain that WE are the epitome of rational and positive.

At any rate, the initial bonding mechanism cannot be controlled but the treecats can have second thoughts much like we as humans do after several dates. LOL Whereby, quite often, the damage is already done.

I merely wanted to point out the possibility of a triggered bonding between the treecats and the MAlign.

Love is in the eye of the beholder—or in the mind, as the case may be with the 'Cats. Perhaps I should apologize for my "Ahead of its time" conceptions. And for seeing what just may materialize in future series.quote
I am not a believer that the MAlign are necessarily psychotic. Audrey O'Hanrahan is not psychotic but firmly supports the MAlign and would likely deal with enemies very much like a treecat would. There are some members who are psychotic, but that's true for any group of humans.

Now, that doesn't mean the MAlign members are likely to be adopted. They view the world too starkly as Us vs. Them with any being not a MAlign member as Them. This would include treecats. I somehow doubt that any telepathic being would bond to someone who views them as a specimen to be studied rather than a partner.

ldwechsler wrote:To be bonded, you have to meet. Not many members of MAlign are going to get to Sphinx. And even then it seems a matter of luck.

It would be an interesting thing, however. I agree. Doubtful it would happen and certainly not in this plot arc. Remember also that some people who were overly ambitious went to Sphinx but were not adopted. There was a politician who was involved in Roger's assassination who wanted that.

All true you two. With exceptions.

I wonder if there are MAlign exceptions who do not conform to MAlign standards?

Of course there are!

I certainly would not expect a bonding with any member of the Inner Onion, but the C-lines have produced a few notables, with whom I'd wager a treecat would be proud to bond.

Most notably, Virginia Usher, Jeremy X and Paulo D'Arezzo and possibly his parents.

And because there are exceptions in the C-lines—because there is no god except God—then I would imagine a few exceptions in one or more of the other lines as well.

.

lyonheart wrote:Hi cthia,

Given most of our favorite Havenite and Torch characters hadn't met Nimitz or Samantha, the memory singers have little to offer any scouts considering choosing them.

Since we first read about Genghis in At All Costs, his companion Judson van Hale was the son of a freed genetic slave born and raised on Sphinx, so we've known for almost a dozen years that genetic slaves can definitely attract treecats.

My primary surprise in Cauldron of Ghosts was that the Torch government didn't come home with their own passel of treecats.

Granted they may be second tier in current security terms as they still have a couple of treecats compared to others with none, but hopefully we'll see them with a lot more soon.

Quite aside from the security aspect, receiving their own colony of treecats will demonstrate in another way Torch's political acceptance and maturity by their neighbors and new allies.

For myself, I'm kind of curious just how intellectual WEB's will become, or what Ruth's and Berry's will be like.

Keep smiling,

L

cthia wrote:

PeterZ wrote:quote="cthia""Treecats are attracted to Rational positive attitude." LOL

Which is a relative thing. And man will surely purport to know what rational and positive is to another species. Of course we know. We are man. Hu-man is also quite certain that WE are the epitome of rational and positive.

At any rate, the initial bonding mechanism cannot be controlled but the treecats can have second thoughts much like we as humans do after several dates. LOL Whereby, quite often, the damage is already done.

I merely wanted to point out the possibility of a triggered bonding between the treecats and the MAlign.

Love is in the eye of the beholder—or in the mind, as the case may be with the 'Cats. Perhaps I should apologize for my "Ahead of its time" conceptions. And for seeing what just may materialize in future series.quote
I am not a believer that the MAlign are necessarily psychotic. Audrey O'Hanrahan is not psychotic but firmly supports the MAlign and would likely deal with enemies very much like a treecat would. There are some members who are psychotic, but that's true for any group of humans.

Now, that doesn't mean the MAlign members are likely to be adopted. They view the world too starkly as Us vs. Them with any being not a MAlign member as Them. This would include treecats. I somehow doubt that any telepathic being would bond to someone who views them as a specimen to be studied rather than a partner.

ldwechsler wrote:To be bonded, you have to meet. Not many members of MAlign are going to get to Sphinx. And even then it seems a matter of luck.

It would be an interesting thing, however. I agree. Doubtful it would happen and certainly not in this plot arc. Remember also that some people who were overly ambitious went to Sphinx but were not adopted. There was a politician who was involved in Roger's assassination who wanted that.

All true you two. With exceptions.

I wonder if there are MAlign exceptions who do not conform to MAlign standards?

Of course there are!

I certainly would not expect a bonding with any member of the Inner Onion, but the C-lines have produced a few notables, with whom I'd wager a treecat would be proud to bond.

Most notably, Virginia Usher, Jeremy X and Paulo D'Arezzo and possibly his parents.

And because there are exceptions in the C-lines—because there is no god except God—then I would imagine a few exceptions in one or more of the other lines as well.

cthia wrote:Which begets another possibility. What happens if a treecat ends up bonding with an unbeknown MAlign sleeper who themselves didn't know that he was sleeping, and then was activated? That would certainly be interesting. "Mom, dad, guess who's coming to dinner?!"

Yet, at that dinner, the treecat comes into contact with whomever in the family does know of their MAlign status...

<Something smells at this dinner and it ain't the celery soup>

Honor Among Enemies; Ch. 12 wrote: What happened between Samantha and Nimitz was up to them—a point the majority of humans, who persisted in thinking of 'cats as pets, not companions, failed to grasp. That misconception probably stemmed from the fact that humans were almost always the alpha partners in their bondings, but that was because treecats who'd adopted had chosen to live in humanity's society and recognized the need to abide by human rules, some of which baffled them. They relied on their people for guidance, and not just socially; they knew they didn't fully understand humanity's technological marvels, and that those marvels could kill. BBut anyone who'd ever been adopted knew a treecat was a person, with the same rights and occasional need for space as any human. It was always the 'cat who initiated a bond, and there had been cases in which that bond was repudiated when a human tried to turn it into some sort of ownership. It happened rarely—'cat's seldom made the mistake of choosing someone who could do that—but it did happen.

Jonathan_S wrote:

cthia wrote:Which begets another possibility. What happens if a treecat ends up bonding with an unbeknown MAlign sleeper who themselves didn't know that he was sleeping, and then was activated? That would certainly be interesting. "Mom, dad, guess who's coming to dinner?!"

Yet, at that dinner, the treecat comes into contact with whomever in the family does know of their MAlign status...

<Something smells at this dinner and it ain't the celery soup>

Depends on the current feelings of that MAlign aware person. Treecat's can't read people's thoughts, only their emotions, so it might be that nothing happens because a family didn't isn't when someone is likely to be thinking maniacally thoughts of genetic slavery and subjugating the genetically inferior.

Nor is an activated deep sleeper agent likely to be in the know enough to become ickily possessive of the treecat for it's genetics and telempathy.

But even if there were unsavory thoughts from a participant at this hypothetical dinner unless they were murderous thoughts aim at the treecat or his bonded human most treecats are culturally acclimatized enough to not do anything drastic without direct provocation. So it would probably just be an uncomfortable meal.


Oh, BTW I did stumble across some text-ev for treecat's repudiating their human; it was in Honor Among Enemies

Honor Among Enemies; Ch. 12 wrote: What happened between Samantha and Nimitz was up to them—a point the majority of humans, who persisted in thinking of 'cats as pets, not companions, failed to grasp. That misconception probably stemmed from the fact that humans were almost always the alpha partners in their bondings, but that was because treecats who'd adopted had chosen to live in humanity's society and recognized the need to abide by human rules, some of which baffled them. They relied on their people for guidance, and not just socially; they knew they didn't fully understand humanity's technological marvels, and that those marvels could kill. BBut anyone who'd ever been adopted knew a treecat was a person, with the same rights and occasional need for space as any human. It was always the 'cat who initiated a bond, and there had been cases in which that bond was repudiated when a human tried to turn it into some sort of ownership. It happened rarely—'cat's seldom made the mistake of choosing someone who could do that—but it did happen.

Brigade XO wrote:"Most notably, Virginia Usher, Jeremy X and Paulo D'Arezzo and possibly his parents."

Jeremy and Paulo are "products" of Manpower's genetic slavery operation, not Alignment operatives. Ginny Usher is also not an Alignment operative. It is quite possible that a decendent of an Alpha Line sleeper agency plant which has not been inducted in the religion nor been raised to behave and operate as the many top end Alignment agents (who know they are agents) or ruling Alphas could be adopted. It depends- what is the underlying person truly like and have they bought into (and been raised as) the kind of person we see in Albrect or the contract killers or Gauls.

It's like saying Paval Young could be adopted.....not a chance in Hell. He is presented as having learned to be a sleezeball at his father's knee and got worse as he aged, having also developed a taste for destroying (an injuring along the way) anyone who doesn't give him or defer to him in the way he sees as his due. That does not strike me as someone who would survive long in Treecat society.

drunken wiki informant wrote:As of 1919 PD, it was not known what official standing Lars had in the order of precedence of the Kingdom of Torch. He began studies at the New University of Landing that year.