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
Kate Davenport
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I just finished Orphans of Raspay. Thank you as always. But it sparked an odd thought. It seems like Penric's life is going to overlap that of the Golden General and Fonsa, far away though they may be. Like when I realized that if Julius Cesar died in 44 BC, there must have been people alive at the same time as both he and Jesus, a few could even conceivably have met both of them (Magi). Odd, yes?
Andrea
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Thank you so much for your wonderful books-- they have provided so much solace and entertainment to me in hard times. After much patient eBay stalking, I've finally managed to obtain a copy of every Vorkosigan book published by Easton Press. Will Easton Press ever continue with their leather bound editions of the series?
YEVA
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
How and which authors of sci-fi and fantasy did you affect in your writing process?
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