Justin Grays

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Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 08

Justin Grays

Season 2, Episode 08: Race and Culture in the Honorverse

The adventure of cleaning up audio and improving show notes from previous panels continues in today’s episode of Justin on Panels. We are still working through MarsCon 2018, with the panel “Race and Culture in the Honorverse”. Please note: MarsCon 2018 was seven months before the release of Uncompromising Honor (HH14). Shadow of Victory (SI4) was the most recent novel in the current timeline.

Content Warning: Slavery does get discussed in this panel, and there are white men trying to whitesplain it away.

David Weber's Honor Harrington series presents a very diverse gambit of humans in a far future when race does not seem to matter as much as politics. Juxtaposed against our own realities, how does this fundamentally affect our perception of the Honorverse?

With: Justin Grays, Stephanie Stensland

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More on my introduction to the Honorverse.

.Characters Referenced:

Polities Referenced:

Locations Referenced:

  • Potsdam, New Berlin System (Andermani Empire)

  • Manticore, Manticore-A System (Star Kingdom of Manticore/Star Empire of Manticore)

  • Torch, Torch System (Kingdom of Torch)

  • Old Earth, Sol System (Solarian League)

  • Beowulf, Sigma Draconis System (Republic of Beowulf/Solarian League)

  • Erewhon, Erewhon System (Republic of Erewhon)

  • Haven, Haven System (People’s Republic of Haven/Republic of Haven)

  • Grayson, Yeltsin’s Star System (Protectorate of Grayson)

When I said that Gustav thought that he was “some Russian general reincarnated”, I was trying to remember Fredrick the Great, the King of Prussia.

As the audience member stated, the Star Kingdom was intentionally a constitutional monarchy - the original colonists had purchased the rights to colonize the system under the charter Manticore Colony, LTD. A plague killed about 60% of the original colonists before a vaccine was discovered and perfected, and so the survivors needed help to keep their colony from failing. They also wanted to make certain that they, the original colonists, wouldn’t lose too much influence to all the newcomers, and so they rewrote their charter into their constitution.

The Roman Emperors whom I’m trying to remember are likely Lucius Septimius Severus and his son, Caracalla. Other African Roman Emperors include Decimus Clodius Albinus, Marcus Opellius Macrinus, and Aemilianus.

When I said “presidents of the past 30 years,” I was thinking of the 1988 election up to the convention:

  • George H. W. and George W. Bush, being part of the Bush–Davis–Walker family (1989-1993; 2001-2009)

  • Bill Clinton, being part of the Clintons, Rodhams, Lockharts, Boxers, and Mezvinskys (1993-2001)

However, I could have gone back further, as the Carters of Georgia are included in this list.
Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me remember what documentary I was watching on Reagan.

The six Manticoran political parties are:

  • Centrist Party (fiscal and social conservatives)

  • Conservative Association (power to the nobility)

  • Crown Loyalist Party (power to the monarchy, more fiscally conservative than the Centrists)

  • Liberal Party (moderate socialism)

  • New Men Party (political opportunists)

  • Progressive Party (fiscal conservatives)

The four known Havenite political parties are:

  • Constitutional Progressive Party

  • Corporate Conservative Party

  • New Conservative Party

  • New Democrat Party

At the time, I had forgotten that there were political parties discussed in the Talbott Quadrant. 

While the United States did not start out with political parties, and there was discussion about the dangers of domestic political factions at the time, the First Party System was kicked off during George Washington’s presidency. The parties at the time were the Federalists (conservatives of the era) and the Democratic-Republicans (liberals of the era). We are currently in the Sixth Party System (or possibly even the Seventh Party System, as we’re in the era of Post-truth Politics), with the Democrats (centerist) and the Republicans (far-right).

Unfortunately, the First Past the Post System encourages political systems to devolve into two parties. We need Ranked Choice Voting or Instant Runoff Voting.

At 34:29, when I said “and the Mesans”, I meant the Masadans.

Back in 2017, a kid mistook a water heater for a robot and told it that she loved it. It was incredibly adorable. As opposed to HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, who was murdered in Philadelphia back in 2015.

COVER ART BY MICHELLE CHMURA | THEME MUSIC BY CALEB KELSON | EDITED BY RACHEL HANSON

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Race and Culture in the Honorverse Justin Grays, Stephanie Stensland