Stilties
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stilties are a fictional species in the Honorverse fictional universe. They are native to Medusa in the Basilisk system, and were more or less equivalent technologically to late Bronze age humans when discovered. They live in clans, some nomadic, and others settled in small towns at important trade junctions. Politically, most groups are organized by extended families and led by the head of the currently dominant family. Town organization is more complex, but political arrangements everywhere are similar to Terran Bronze Age political arrangements outside of the major civilzations and cultures.
They are tall, slender and trilaterally symmetric. They are warm-blooded and bear living young, yet are somewhat similar in appearance to a very large praying mantis of Old Earth. Stilties use their upper limbs for manipulation (much as with human hands and arms) while standing on tripod legs (with 6 knee joints), which are impossibly long and slender by human standards. Instead of bending hip joints, their bodies swivel with the assistance of the complex knee joints. They can move very quickly when they wish to do.
They are intelligent and communicate via a combination of chemical clues, voice, and postures (primarily of the three arms). Nevertheless, it is possible for humans to interact with them despite having the wrong chemical emissions and only 2/3 of the correct number of arms. Establishing communication presented more than the usual difficulties after they were discovered when the Basislisk terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction was mapped.
Being colored a mottled green-gray, similar to Medusan moss (a persistent visual theme throughout Medusan biology), the natives look "like some sort of circus freaks" and the atmosphere "might smell like the downwind side of a chemical refinery with buggered filtration." (Stromboli, p.104 HH1) Their coloring has the effect of providing exceptionally good camouflage, at least to human senses, in the Medusan environment. Medusan are quite good at moving stealthily, especially in their natural environment, the color is not the only factor.
After their discovery, which coincided with the discovery of the Basilisk terminus of the Manticore Junction, the Star Kingdom of Manticore assumed a protectorate over the planet and its inhabitants, but disclaimed sovereignty. There was strong political opposition to a Manticoran annexation of the planet itself, and against any but a protective role with regard to the Stilties. However, the Basilisk terminus was claimed outright by Manticore. Medusa acquired, over the first couple of decades of their relationship with Manticore, substantial orbital trading and transhipment facilities, most in orbit around the planet. Nearly all of this orbital infrastructure was destroyed during the Basilisk raid by the People's Republic of Haven.
Trade and other interaction with Medusa itself has been limited, as the Medusans produce little of economic value, though it has been steadily increasing as they acquire more technology and as Manticoran sponsored economic development proceeds. Manticore maintains a Resident, with police and a small armed force, to keep peace and to prevent importation of goods and materials unsuited to the Medusan technological standing. No advanced weapons, no chemical industries with toxic effluents, and so on. With the exception of some serious problems caused by an attempted coup by Haven before the start of the first part of the Haven-Manticore War, this policy has proven to be, on the whole, a success for both Medusa and Manticore.
