J C
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
A few questions: 1) did I mention how much I love the books? Because I love your books, the characterization, exploration of themes, your writing style. 2) how big is House Cordonah? I imagine an orbiting space station with ~40k people, including children. What's the corporate structure look like; do the denizens have voting shares? 3) are wormholes affected by gravity? What do they orbit?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Glad you are enjoying the books!
Your metal picture of House Cordonah's main upside space facility seems within spec. It may not, per se, be orbiting the planet, but is instead at/near/guarding one of the 5 wormholes, and handling direct wormhole-to-wormhole traffic. In which case there would certainly have to be a sister station in orbit for transfers of goods and people downside. Note that's not the totality of their holdings; they include downside support bases and properties as well. I doubt anyone but the most upper management has any say in how the House is run. Certainly not the denizens/peons/grubbers. ("Voting shares" are a Komarran custom.)
I have not so far had to work out the exact mechanics of my wormholes, so I haven't. (I trust you realize they are fundamentally bogus physics?) But if they don't move with the gravitational systems they are near, it would have jump-point to jump-point travel-duration effects over time. At the speeds my ships move, such shifting may be just folded in for day-to-day needs, but for century to century matters, it could add up to a problem. The navigational math is in any case non-trivial, hence Cordelia's former Survey specialty.
Ta, L.
Glad you are enjoying the books!
Your metal picture of House Cordonah's main upside space facility seems within spec. It may not, per se, be orbiting the planet, but is instead at/near/guarding one of the 5 wormholes, and handling direct wormhole-to-wormhole traffic. In which case there would certainly have to be a sister station in orbit for transfers of goods and people downside. Note that's not the totality of their holdings; they include downside support bases and properties as well. I doubt anyone but the most upper management has any say in how the House is run. Certainly not the denizens/peons/grubbers. ("Voting shares" are a Komarran custom.)
I have not so far had to work out the exact mechanics of my wormholes, so I haven't. (I trust you realize they are fundamentally bogus physics?) But if they don't move with the gravitational systems they are near, it would have jump-point to jump-point travel-duration effects over time. At the speeds my ships move, such shifting may be just folded in for day-to-day needs, but for century to century matters, it could add up to a problem. The navigational math is in any case non-trivial, hence Cordelia's former Survey specialty.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Daniel
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello Lois! First of all, thank you for your books. I have enjoyed them a lot. Now, my real question/thoughts. The Miles universe is pretty big. The lore is astonishing (and I LOVE a good lore)... But I think it is pretty much there, waiting for a good story to be written. For example, something about Piotr on the First Cetagandan War. Also, how would you feel about opening Miles universe to another author?
Kate Davenport
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Sadly, the most likely thing. But it would be interesting to see people's reactions if Penric was the one who DIDN'T stand out (physically at least). Maybe someone else from the cantons will visit him and verify that his tales of mountains, and snow & ice are true. (?)
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