#treecat

[cocusnuss]

Me to my treecat

Nice argument, but as you can see I have drawn this image of us where I have a nice, juicy cheeseburger on my plate while you have naught but a single piece of celery.

[millacm]

D & Drag Queens!!

It's rare I draw fanart so quick, but here's the Questing Queens team! I used highlighters to shape the characters but some didn't get picked up in the scan so the second is a picture. Its gonna be such a fun season I'm excited ~

[stitchlingbelle]

Any other Honor Harrington/ Star Kingdom fans out there who cannot help but think, every time they have celery, "I'm making my mind-glow so much stronger rn"?

[just-a-lost-soul-666]

cats in a tree :)

via PetPress

[charl0ttan]

Honestly as far as conservative slanting writings, Clancy's somehow not even that bad? Check out John Ringo or David Webber on Wikipedia sometime, they're. Well.

You'd THINK genderbent Horatio Hornblower in space with a telepathic treecat would be cool, until you get to the "royalism is the morally correct political stance" main characters!

Ringo, somehow, is worse.

wowie! gets scared

[thebluestockingfirefly]

Treecat.

[lindsaylangart]

A drawing for TreeCat of their character, Tree!

[jadescribbles]

Art piece for the QZGS Big Bang ( @gloryproalliance)!! I got to work with the wonderful treecat, who wrote a super super fun fic for this universe :D You can find it here!!!

It's Glory but vaguely cyberpunk, and she has amazing worldbuilding notes that I was given the honor to read. I have more character sketches and ran out of time to polish those, but I might finish up and post them later!

[google-searchhistory-official]

Finished the On Basilisk Station audiobook. I do recommend it if you like Star Trek. Also Treecat

[litcityblues]

'Ashes of Victory' --A Review

The ninth novel in the Honorverse series serves as a conclusion to a three-book arc in the series that begins with In Enemy Hands, continues with Echoes of Honor, and concludes here. Honor Harrington is alive, and well and has returned home with half a million prisoners from the Havenite Prison Planet known as Hell.

Ashes of Victory is the story of her triumphant return home. I would say the first third of the book or so is centered around just Honor coming to grips with having been declared/believed to be dead. She has an emotional reunion with her parents (her mother had given birth to twins, which satisfied the requirement Grayson had for an heir to her Steading) and her cousin Devon has inherited her Manticoran title (Honor is amused by this, as she can imagine his horror at the news-- while we don't meet him, he's described as a bookish/Professorial type who would very much not interested in things like a title.) She also has to face the facts: the extent of her injuries is going to keep her from active naval duty for at least a couple of years since she'll need reconstructive surgery.

There's a heart-wrenching moment for Nimitz as well-- as the extent of his injuries becomes clear and the humans realize he has lost his ability to communicate with his fellow Treecats, though his bond with Honor remains intact and as strong as ever. It's unclear if he recovers some ability to communicate with his fellow Treecats, but what Honor does is manage to help prove that Treecats are as intelligent as humans and full communication starts to become possible thanks to sign language systems.

Honor gets her battlefield promotion confirmed (and becomes Admiral) and, since she's out of the fighting for a bit, starts teaching at the Saganami Island Naval Academy to shape the minds of future generations of naval officers-- not just from Manticore, but from Grayson as well.

Hey, remember Steadholder Mueller? He was sort of kind of involved in a plot to overthrow Protector Benjamin that got somebody else beheaded and he frantically threw everyone he possibly could under the bus to avoid being implicated himself? (Flag In Exile, fifth book of the series.) Well, he's back and he's been biding his time and martialling his power and he's emerged as the leader of the Opposition on Grayson. He doesn't know it, but he's also under investigation but before that can come to fruition, his conspirators are revealed to be agents of Masada. There is unease on Grayson- especially when rumors start flying that annexation into the Star Kingdom is being discussed. (It's not precisely that: the famously independent San Martin has joined, but it's... kind of a commonwealth situation? They maintain their autonomy but also have representation of some kind in Manticore's Parliament?) Poor Mueller is in over his head and doesn't realize until it's too late.

Meanwhile, on Haven, things are going great, and by great I mean that Rob Pierre is dead. Admiral McQueen tries to launch a coup. Oscar Saint-Just detonates a hidden nuke underneath the Octagon and decimates McQueen, her forces, and a hefty amount of the military leadership to boot. Admiral Theisman is recalled to take charge of the Capital Fleet. Admirals Tourville and Giscard are believed to be next on the list of Admirals to go (i.e. be shot) and the military situation collapses on them. They are on the verge of utter defeat thanks to Manticore's new offensive and technologies to boot.

But, a surprise assassination attempt on the combined leadership of Manticore and Grayson fails- but kills Manticore's Prime Minister which leads to a change of government. The opposition comes in and demands a halt to the fighting, believing Haven to be defeated. Queen Elizabeth is fucking pissed about it but has no choice. A ceasefire follows along with negotiations and Admiral Theisman launches a coup of his own, killing Oscar Saint-Just.

Y'all...

I am not sure how to feel about this book. The first third to half of it is just about perfect. Pays off so many plot lines laid down in the previous two books of this arc. There are great character moments as Honor returns home and is reunited with friends and family and faces up to the cost of her injuries and time on Planet Hell. (The weird awkward romance between her and White Haven is touched upon, but we don't get back around to that-- I'm thinking we will at some point though.)

But the ending to this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's... awkward. To his credit, Weber acknowledges that he had to make a mild retcon in an afterword. Basically, eagle-eyed readers noted that in an earlier book, the Prime Minister of Manticore must command a majority in the Commons. Weber tweaked that here to make it the House of Lords. That change is small, but significant and explains how the Opposition was able to force a change in government-- and, it turns out that Monarchs of Manticore are required to marry a commoner. I am assuming that this will be paid off in future volumes... somehow. But a political short-circuit on Manticore's part also covers up for the fact that Haven is a hot mess.

How can any polity survive such instability? It's all coups and counter-coups and counter-counter-coups and nukes going off and just randomly killed a million people or so. I don't see how you can have that instability without some kind of popular unrest breaking out.

I mean, on the one hand, I get it: the Honorverse train keeps on rolling. But on the other hand: this is kind of a wet fart noise of an ending to a really excellent three-book arc to this series. (Also, there's a lot of really technical exposition in this one-- maybe more than in previous novels, I don't know. And yes, it's military sci-fi, so what did I expect, but it slows this book down in parts in ways I did not like.)

Overall: Starts strong, but the ending is not particularly satisfying-- however, these three book-arc have sold me on keeping on keeping on when it comes to the Honorverse, so I guess we'll see what's next. My Grade: *** out of ****

[chroniclingworlds]

Inmania

The Inmania include the largest land predators on Varin, able to hunt almost any animal aside from the massive Titanipods. Most are ambush predators, stalking their prey from dense forests or undergrowth before tackling and killing them with a well-aimed stab of their proboscis.

Prowlers:

Pictured: the painted prowler, found in the steppe forests of midland Axane.

In the forests of Amki, Ejoa and Axane lurk the largest land predators of Varin. However, these disproportionate-looking animals behave more like bears, feeding on fruit and plants with meat making up only a portion of their diet. This perhaps explains their reduced head and neck, as they do not need as much muscle to launch their proboscis. But this lack of strength does not make them any less dangerous, and they have been observed hunting and taking down large prey with their massive arms. They can also be quite territorial and should never be approached in the wild due to their unpredictable nature.

Sabers:

Pictured: the ringneck, found across the eastern plains of Axane.

Rivaled only by the Faon Jagpanthers in speed, Sabers are one of the fastest animals on Varin, able to chase down even the quickest Unipalas. Living on the plains of Ejoa and Axane, they are fairly specialized for open terrain and smaller, quick prey. Although these lithe predators typically hunt alone, they live in small groups and will occasionally share food. While they are ferocious hunters, they are preyed upon by their larger relatives such as Raptors and Pincherjaws, and as such are quite skittish. Due to their specialized lifestyle, they are considered to be at risk of endangerment and their populations are closely monitored by scientists.

Raptors:

Pictured: the high-crested raptor, one of the largest species, which is native to the Great Savanna of Ejoa.

These large ambush predators inhabit the plains and forests of Ejoa, Axane and Amki. A diverse group, they include large savanna species which take on Tanks and Fanshells, as well as sleek jungle-dwellers that feed on Labyrinth Ghouls and Acualatas. Aside from the omnivorous Prowlers, these are the largest predators on Varin, and most species are considered apex carnivores in their ecosystems. The only animals that would take on large Raptors are packs of Moon Dogs, which occasionally come into competition for territory or prey.

Pincherjaws:

Pictured: the Southlands Pincherjaw, which is found on the lush plains of far southern Ejoa.

An unusual group of animals, these predators found in the plains and woodlands of Ejoa and Axane have hardened, sharp tips to their mouth sheaths, allowing them to actually tear flesh rather than simply dissolve and slurp it. This makes them very effective scavengers, as they can grab a chunk of meat and dash off before the larger predator notices. While they are known for being scavengers, they are also active pack hunters who take down both large and medium-sized prey.

DiamondEyes:

Pictured: the little treecat, found in the dense tropical jungles of the White River delta in Ejoa.

The smallest of the Inmania, these slender animals live in the trees of the Ejoan jungles, feeding on Leafies, small Acualatas, and arboreal Wyrms. Their name comes from their strange pupils, which are diamond-shaped. The reasons they have evolved these strange eyes, unlike anything else on Varin, is yet unknown, reminding us that there are still many mysteries to be solved in this alien world.

[stitchlingbelle]

Every so often, I stop and think about the fact that Honor canonically got Mike fluffy treecat slippers for her birthday.

[lizabethstucker]

A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber

4.5 out of 5.

Honorverse - Star Kingdom 1

The planet Sphinx is relatively unexplored, drawing young Stephanie Harrington to the deep forest near her family's freehold. There she finds unexpected friends among the sentient treecat community and a lifelong companion.

The treecats have always fascinated me since I read the first book in the Honor Harrington series, so having this look back to the first encounter was a perfect way to spend the two days of post-Hurricane Milton electricity outage. While it took a while to get into the story, once it did I was hooked, oblivious to my surroundings. I'm eager to read more of Stephanie and Lionheart's adventures and attempts to keep the clans safe from human predators.

Although classified as Young Adult, I have no doubts that this book would appeal to both older and mature younger readers. This is also a great introduction to the Honorverse as it isn't as military or politically focused as the Honor Harrington or other Honorverse books. I really loved this.

[hetrosjistin]

It's hard to think of REALLY alien aliens honestly, because, you know, ALIEN.

There's been really good descriptions of ALIEN aliens, Pierson's Puppeteers from Larry Niven's Known Space/Ring World come to mind.

Or the Medusans from Honor Harrington (A series that introduces very early on the idea of various intelligent alien species but never goes significantly INTO them at all after a few short stories and, of course, the Treecats of Sphinx)

But personally, weirdly beyond these two, whenever someone says "a really alien looking alien" my first thought jumps to the Man from Mars that was an illustration from Fantastic Adventures

So, if you could settle an argument for me- Regarding "most fictional aliens look like space bugs":

Is that accurate, because it's kinda hard for human artists to come up with something sufficiently and plausibly "alien" without taking inspiration from bugs (leaving aside more abstract aliens that are just like floating minerals, etc.; also Vulcan-style humanoid aliens)

Or is that just an impression, because most people think of *anything* with sufficiently different anatomy from ours as a "bug" - as demonstrated by the fact that slugs, earthworms and insects are called "bugs" even though they are no closer to one another than we are?

While possibly not "most," it's common ENOUGH that it's kind of a fair statement I think; a lot of aliens have a buggy way about them, like spindly limbs, antennae, tentacles too if you think of mollusks as bug-adjacent. I'd like to see more aliens that are more abstract in shape; I think when designers want to look at nature for inspiration, but they don't want to accidentally recreate something too much like an Earth species, they could look at plant parts, protozoa, even body organs. I'd also like to see more aliens that are just shapes. Like an orb or a disk or a tube.

[interstellar-capitalism]

Finished A Rising Thunder. Both the governments of Haven and Manticore accept the conclusion that Mesa has been masterminding the war with the Solarian league, and their own war, and hammered out a peace deal and alliance. Beowulf joins their deliberations, and helps them block a second arm of the SL's attack on Manticore, for which they are made a scapegoat by the SL. Beowulf's leadership, thoroughly disillusioned with the SL government, which is trying to charge them with treason for forcibly trying to add corpses to the pile, announces they will have a Brexit referendum. or Bexit, I guess. Mesa knocks off the people it used to set up the crisis on the Solarian end, and a Mesa agent now has the ear of the SL's bureaucratic leaders. Manticore's capture of the SL's wormholes and their trade embargo disrupts their economy, and reduces the SL's ability to fund its war, and provides the opportunity for the oppressed outer worlds to break off. meanwhile, the Manticore-Haven alliance provides opportunities for capital markets in both territories that were closed to each other previously because of the war. The treecats of Sphinx have also joined the alliance, providing an early warning system for the Mesa nanite sleeper agents. The SL decides to switch from the failed strategy of throwing superdreadnoughts at the Manties and instead switches to a raiding strategy.

What is the most interesting to me is the value of conspiracy in the setting. While the conspiracy of Mesa is the cause of the conflict, its unveiling is critical to the various Manticore allies to unite to face the real enemy. In a way, it morally simplifies the war to a great extent. You could imagine a take on this series where the Mesa conspiracy was not real, but most of the events took place. Except the only way peace could be achieved was by the unveiling of the conspiracy, which means that in a world where it was not real is one where the governments used a manufactured conspiracy theory as a pretense for ending a costly war.

It also, I think, obscures the base issues with the way things work. The SL is not a bad system because it is subverted by secret eugenicists, it's a bad system because it's a capitalist empire which serves an intergalactic property owning class over the needs of entire planetary populations. And that is important, because it is the failure mode of the exact same system that the good guys are using. Manticore, Mesa, and the Solarian League all have systems designed to manufacture consent for policies which benefit one class of person over another, and ways to exclude people who have unmet needs under their system from political power. And no matter who wins, the victor's economic system is designed to turn it into the SL, corrupt to the point of rot.

[edwardsass]

here, have a christmas cat!!!  ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶