Grayson

From Honorverse

The Protectorate of Grayson was a star nation located in the Yeltsin's Star System.

Contents 1 Star Geography 1.1 Planet Characteristics 2 History 2.1 Colonization 2.2 Civil War and Schism 2.3 Isolation Period and First Grayson-Masadan War 2.4 Alliance with Manticore and Second Grayson-Masadan War 3 Society 3.1 Culture 3.2 Customs concerning women 4 Government 4.1 Law 5 Military 6 References

[edit] Star Geography

Grayson was located in the Yeltsin's Star System, 38 light years to the north east of the Manticore System, and over five hundred light years away from Earth. It was also located to the west of the Endicott System, which was only two days travel away.

Grayson was the only habitable planet in the system with a population of around four and a half billion humans.

[edit] Planet Characteristics

Grayson had a high concentration of heavy metals, such as arsenic and cadmium. None of the native fauna and flora are edible to humans, and the water is too acidic. Most of the metals are worth attracting much interstellar trade.

The planet had a blue-green color to it because of the massive amounts of chlorophyll. There are few deserts on the planet. The planet was not as large as Earth.

Visitors from other worlds carried a filtration mask because of the high concentration of atmospheric dust.

[edit] History

[edit] Colonization

In 488 PD, a group of settlers from the Church of Humanity Unchained led by Reverend Austin Grayson left Earth for the Yeltsin's Star System. In 988 PD, the planet was colonized by these settlers. At that time, the system and the planet had not even been surveyed.

The settlers wanted to get away from the horrors of technology, yet, when they arrived on the planet, they were forced to use technology to survive, which included the construction of domes.

The First Elders destroyed every technological device associated with space travel, including the cryo tubes.

In 998 PD, Austin Grayson died. Captain Hugh Yanakov and Oliver Mayhew convinced the settlers that technology was not evil, but that the way it was being used on Earth was.

During the first generation of colonists, there was an average of one stillbirth in three. Of the survivors, only half survived, while the rest were too unhealthy to live. The colony's women would bear many children at the cost of their lives and emotional well-being to ensure that the colony would survive. Female births outnumbered male births during this time period.

The practice of euthanasia, or "sending someone to God", was practiced. There were cemeteries of children's graves with only dates on them, and these cemeteries had to be used to grow crops during the early colonial period.

[edit] Civil War and Schism

In the 12th Century PD, most of the technological knowledge from Earth had been lost and the colonists had to start all over again.

During this time, planes, tanks, and guns were reinvented. Later, chemical-fueled sublight ships were built, which led to the discovery of the planet Masada in the Endicott System. There was a mass calling to settle the planet, but the technology of the time was not advanced enough to move colonists.

Two groups eventually came out of the new edict, the Moderates and the Faithful. The Moderates were those willing to use technology to survive, while the Faithful wanted to go back to the old teachings that all technology was "evil". The two groups fought each other in a bloody civil war. The Moderates eventually won, but the Faithful had built a doomsday weapon and were willing to use it, until Barbara Bancroft defected to the Moderates and informed them of the device.

The Faithful were exiled to Masada after five years of war.

[edit] Isolation Period and First Grayson-Masadan War

In 1703 PD, the first vessel from an outside system called on Grayson. During this time, Grayson was roughly fifteen hundred years behind most other colonies in development.

Since 1868 PD, Grayson's and Masada's technological level jumped ahead about eight centuries. In 1868 PD, the First Grayson-Masadan War was fought, and Masadan forces used nuclear weapons against planetary targets.

[edit] Alliance with Manticore and Second Grayson-Masadan War

In 1903 PD, the Star Kingdom of Manticore started sending supplies, loans, and personnel to help Grayson's out-of-date industry base and defenses. Admiral of the Green Raoul Courvosier was sent with a diplomatic delegation to finalize the alliance with the current head of state, Protector Benjamin IX.

The area around Grayson was being patrolled by the Navy of Masada after being defeated at the First Battle of Yeltsin's Star.

After an assassination attempt on the Protector by the Brotherhood of Maccabeus was thwarted by Captain Honor Harrington of the RMN, the populace's support for Manticore and the alliance grew tremendously.

The MNS Thunder of God attempted to bombard the surface of the planet, but the HMS Fearless and the HMS Troubadour stopped the vessel in the Second Battle of Yeltsin's Star. Protector Benjamin IX created the Harrington Steading and named Harrington the new Steadholder. She was, also, presented with the Star of Grayson. (HH2)

[edit] Society

The society was governed by the rules and customs set down by the Church of Humanity Unchained.

Even though the original colony ship had fusion reactors, the current technology was fission-based. There were massive space orbital facilities in orbit, mostly Orbital farms to provide food for the planetary population.

The cities on Grayson were encased in domes, and swimming in water was a taboo because of the planet's highly acidic oceans. There were no cities along the coasts.

The people had developed a high tolerance for heavy metals, but their average lifespan was only seventy years. They were small, had generally bad teeth and fragile bones. The population suffered from high rates of neural damage, mental retardation and birth defects.

The population had gotten used to monitoring the toxicity levels of their farms and distill every drop of water. The third leading cause of death on Grayson was lung cancer.

Even though Grayson had a population one third smaller than Masada, Grayson had a bigger industrial base. Its fusion reactors were four times as massive as state-of-the-art ones, which was the reason Graysons preferred more fission reactors.

[edit] Culture

Their food was a mixture of Oriental and New Toscana, as described by Admiral Raoul Courvosier of the Star Kingdom of Manticore.

One of the types of music that originated on Grayson was heard by Admiral Courvosier, who compared it to Earth's Country and Western style, but with a sad undertone.

[edit] Customs concerning women

Up until 1903 PD, females were dominated by males as second class citizens. Polygamy was practiced due to the much larger number of females. The wives of one husband called each other sisters.

The idea of women being property of the men died out long ago, but a complex and elaborate series of codes and customs was still in place.

In meeting a high-ranking noble woman, one needed to bow and kiss hands. If a women was invited to visit another home, it was customary for the woman's protector to accompany her on the visit. (A woman's protector was primarily her husband or another male family member.)

Women did not have to wear veils any more, but were still not allowed to wear slacks and have short hair cuts.

[edit] Government

The formal name of the state established on Grayson and in the Yeltsin's Star system was "Protectorate of Grayson". (HH8)

Under the terms of the Grayson Constitution, the head of the state as well as formal head of the government was the Protector. For a century before 1903 PD (and the Mayhew Restoration), the real head of government was the Chancellor, head of the Council of Elders.

The executive departments were headed by ministers, who constituted the Council.

There was a bicameral legislative branch called the Chamber, composed of a hereditary Conclave of Steadholders and an elected Conclave of Steaders. (HH5)

Local government in Grayson was left in the hands of the feudal lords known as Steadholders, each of whom ruled a Steading (feudal province) of the planet with great autonomy from the central government.

[edit] Law

The Constitution was established after the civil war. It gave certain powers to the Protector, which included the power to intervene in governmental affairs.

Before the Constitution, the Sacristy of the Church had served as Grayson's highest court of law. With constitution it was replaced by a secular High Court. However, despite the establishment of a secular judiciary, the Sacristy was still responsible for training Grayson's jurists. (HH5)

The punishment for treason was death. Several other crimes, including murder and rape, were also punishable with capital punishment (the primary method of execution was hanging). (HH2, HH5)

A Steadholder was immune from prosecution unless the charge was treason. The Protector himself might condemn a Steadholder to death, if evidence of treason was conclusive. However, under Grayson tradition, a Steadholder had the right to challenge the accusation by a trial by sword against the Protector's Champion. (HH5)

[edit] Military

Grayson's military arms were the Grayson Space Navy and Army. There was no separate marine corps up until 1905 PD, and "marine" complements in the navy were actually part of the Army.

After joining the Manticoran Alliance, however, the Grayson Space Marine Corps was formed after the example of the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps.

[edit] References