House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (52 page)

The Protectorate of Grayson

My Lords, I do not intend to debate with you. It is the Sword’s prerogative in time of war to
instruct
you, and such is my purpose today. I will entertain no discussion, and I will brook no defiance. Understand me well, and ignore my warning at your peril.

There has been much discussion in this Conclave over months past as to blame and responsibility. There have been countless whispers, and more than a few open arguments, that the time has come for the Protectorate of Grayson to walk away from the Star Kingdom of Manticore. It is not our job, I have heard too many of you say, to guard the back of a star nation which does not worry about guarding our own or consulting us on foreign policy as an ally should. It is not our responsibility to stand at the side of a star nation whose own policies, whose own internal political corruption and partisanship, have brought it to this deadly pass. It is wisdom to stand aside rather than fling ourselves between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven in this new and even deadlier war between them. We have paid enough standing there in days past; we will pay no more today.

Yes, My Lord Keys, I have heard you. The Sword has listened, as it is charged to listen. And now, having listened, the Sword will speak, and I will speak to tell you to be
silent
.

I know as well as any other man in this chamber—indeed,
better
than any other man in this chamber—how corrupt, how self-serving, how foolish and shortsighted and arrogant the High Ridge Government has been. I know how it has ignored consultation with its allies, how it has built down its own navy, paid no heed to the possibility that Haven might be acquiring equally advanced weapons. I know how it squandered the opportunity for outright victory which lay with in our grasp before the Duke of Cromarty and Lord Chancellor Prestwick were killed—
murdered
—right here at Yeltsin’s Star by agents of the Committee of Public Safety. I know all of those things, yet they are not all I know, and unlike certain honored members of this conclave, I
remember
those other things.

I remember the Faithful on Masada. I remember their promises to destroy all we hold dear. I remember their plot, Haven’s assistance to them, the way in which our Navy was
destroyed
by them. And, My Lords, I
remember
why they failed. I remember the men and women of a foreign, infidel star nation who never hesitated, never asked “Why?”—never even considered standing aside in a battle which was not theirs. I remember how many of those men and women
died
for us, when they did not even know us. When too many of our own people had systematically insulted them because of the difference of their beliefs. And I remember how much else we owe to those “strangers” who brought us modern medicine, interstellar trade, prosperity, safety. Who gave us the gift of the sons and daughters this hostile world of ours can now support. Who freed us from the curse which killed so many
millions
of our babies at birth. Who have fought and bled and died with our sons and our brothers because they are no longer “strangers,” but have also become our brothers—and our
sisters
—by choice.

I will not hear a voice in this chamber which does not count them as much our own, as much the Tester’s children, as any human being ever born of Grayson. Their government has made mistakes—grievous mistakes—but remember what the Intercessor said. Read our own history, see
our
mistakes, before you dare to cast that stone in your hand. The policy of the
High Ridge Government
was just that, my Lords—the policy of the High Ridge Government, not of the people or the Crown of Manticore. And I will assure you on my own honor as Protector of Grayson, that the Republic of Haven has lied about the contents of its diplomatic correspondence with Manticore. I do not pretend to know why, yet I have seen the Manticoran originals, and they do not support Haven’s claims.

In the face of this fresh, undeclared, powerful attack upon the Star Kingdom of Manticore, one justified before the galaxy by lies and distortions, Grayson will stand by our brothers and sisters’ side. We will remember our debt, our shared blood, all we have lost for one another’s sake, and as the Tester is our witness, the sword we have drawn will not be sheathed once more until this
time
there is true peace and an end to the killing at last.

—Protector Benjamin IX of Grayson, addressing the Conclave of Steadholders, March 13, 1920 PD

Introduction

The Protectorate of Grayson is a feudal aristocracy consisting of a single system with one habitable planet and a significant space-based supporting ecosystem.

Grayson was founded in 988 PD by the Reverend Austin Grayson and his co-religionists of the Church of Humanity Unchained. The Reverend Grayson sought to take his followers away from Old Earth to the New Zion and its technology-free Garden of Eden. Upon arrival, however, the colonists found that their beautiful planet was so rich in heavy elements that survival without technology would be almost impossible.

Since the original intent of the colonization of Grayson was to build a New Zion without the evils of technologies used on Old Earth, the founders quite intentionally left behind a great deal of the knowledge and manufacturing capacity required for a technological base. The necessary reinvention and rebuilding of technologies on Grayson were very badly handicapped by that initial planned technology shortage and the need for much of the planet’s labor resources to be dedicated to survival.

In support of that survival, Reverend Grayson made a radical change to the Church of Humanity Unchained’s doctrine. He called for the rejection not of the machine but of the ungodly lifestyle which machine-age humanity had embraced. In time a religious schism between the technology-embracing Moderates and the technology-rejecting Faithful led to a bloody civil war which ended only when the Faithful were exiled to a new colony on the neighboring Endicott System’s planet of Masada. The rest of space-going humanity rediscovered the Yeltsin and Endicott systems in 1793 PD.

The Protectorate of Grayson fought the descendants of its exiles in the Masadan War of 1843 PD, the Long Crusade (a series of Masadan raids on Grayson) between 1848 and 1868, and the Second Masadan War of 1903. Following the Manticoran defense of
Grayson
from Masadan attack in the second war, RMN commander Honor Harrington was made the first non-Grayson and the first female steadholder. The war marked the Protectorate of Grayson’s entry into the Manticoran Alliance and ended the Masadan threat but did not bring peace.
Grayson
fought as a member of the Manticoran Alliance in the next decade of wars with Haven, and the 1913 assassination attempt on the heads of state of both Manticore and
Grayson
was coordinated by agents with clear Havenite ties. The Protectorate of
Grayson
remains a strong ally of the Star Empire of Manticore.

Astrography

With a single habitable planet and a population of about three billion, the Protectorate of
Grayson
is one of many single-system nations in the Verge. Yeltsin’s Star is a young F6 class main sequence star half again as massive as Sol. The system layout is remarkably similar to the Sol System, although the single habitable planet is much farther from the primary.

Grayson (Yeltsin V)

Radius: 6,242 km

Gravity: 1.17 G

Orbital Period: 681.61 T-days

Sidereal Day: 24.21 hours

Hydrosphere: 63%

The planet Grayson is significantly smaller than Old Earth, but is of approximately equal mass because it is a high-density world with unusual concentrations of heavy metals. None of its native plants or animals are safe for human consumption, due to the presence of those heavy metals. Population centers are primarily inland to avoid the toxicity of the planet’s oceans. Early genetic engineering by the initial settlers resulted in a set of enzymes that allow native-born Graysons to sustain and survive degrees of heavy-metal contact that would kill unmodified humans. This genetic engineering has resulted in a live birth rate of females that is roughly triple that of males. Despite these modifications, heavy-metal toxicity remains an ever-present risk, and the population lives in air-filtered homes. Although able to sustain a “shirtsleeve” environment under many conditions, wind speeds which generate significant quantities of atmospheric dust require the use of protective masks, and gloves are frequently required when in contact with the natural environment.

The average temperature on Grayson is on the warm side by Manticoran standards, and limited hydrosphere and axial inclination do not help to moderate it very much. Unlike most planets, Grayson’s orbital infrastructure contains a high percentage of orbital farms where the livestock and soil can remain uncontaminated.

Prior to joining the Manticoran Alliance, Grayson had very few exports or imports. Most products were produced for the domestic market only. While wartime construction has occupied most of the system’s heavy industry, it has begun to export both light warships and merchant hulls to Alliance members. Although military needs have dominated and driven the development of Grayson’s industry since 1905 PD, the infusion of modern technology and Manticoran investment funds have simultaneously provided for a huge leap in civilian manufacture, as well, at least in comparison to pre-Alliance levels. The planetary standard of living has risen quite remarkably over that timeframe as a result of the leaps and bounds by which productivity has increased.

The population as of 1921 PD was about three billion and expanding after a lengthy period of stagnant population curves, and the planet is experiencing a significant boom in space-based industry. Politically, the planet is divided into eighty-two steadings, each under the control of a steadholder. One consequence of the draconian population limitation Graysons were forced to accept due to their planetary environment is that no more than half of the entire planetary surface has actually been developed or organized into official steadings at this time. Harrington Steading, organized in 1906, is one of the youngest, but there remains much room for additional steadings as the Grayson population increases.

Asteroid Belt

The Asteroid Belt, which has never been given a name, provides the source of raw materials for the Grayson construction programs both orbiting Grayson and at Blackbird. Resource extraction ships move constantly between the processing nodes that are spaced equidistantly around the Belt. Refined materials are shipped from the nodes either in-system to Grayson or out to the Blackbird yards.

Blackbird Shipyards

The major Grayson Naval shipyard was built in orbit around the gas giant Uriel, and takes its name—“Blackbird”—from one of Uriel’s moons. Blackbird was the site of a secretly constructed Masadan base during the last war with Masada and the shipyard’s name was chosen as a deliberate memorial to the Graysons and Manticorans killed in the last Masadan attack on the home system. Heavy investment from the Hauptman Cartel of Manticore and Skydomes of Grayson was fundamental to the yard’s initial construction. The Hauptman Cartel had been repaid in full by the time of the cease-fire of 1915 PD, but Skydomes remains a fully participating partner and major stockholder in Blackbird.

The shipyards consist of dispersed construction slips distributed around the Uriel subsystem, as well as an impressive dispersed defensive system consisting of both static and mobile assets.