List of Planets in The Honorverse - S

S

San Martin

Located in the Trevor's Star System, San Martin is the heaviest-gravity planet settled by humans, at about 2.7 times the gravity of Earth. For this reason, virtually all the people of San Martin, known as "San Martinos", descend from colonists who had been genetically engineered to survive the high-gravity environment. Genetic engineering was not enough to simply move in; the planet is so massive that its sea-level atmospheric pressure is high enough to be incompatible with human physiology (i.e., poisonous levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen). For this reason, settlement had been restricted to mountain peaks, plateaus, and alpine valleys of which San Martin has a great many. Probably as a result of being forced to live in small communities and of the planet's unforgiving environment, San Martinos have developed a characteristically stubborn and indomitable personality, culturally and personally. The original San Martino colonists came from a Spanish speaking area of Earth (e.g., Latin America or Spain), as the planet's official language is Spanish. Every San Martino in the novels and stories has a Spanish name, though like most humans, they also speak Standard English though with a distinctive Spanish lilt. The Trevor's Star System is also one of the Manticore Wormhole Junction's termini, which added to the planet's economic development until it was invaded by the People's Republic of Haven. The people of San Martin stubbornly resisted the invasion; the San Martin Navy, commanded by Commodore Jesus Ramirez, fought with such tenacity to cover refugee transports fleeing through the Junction that the People's Navy lost three ships for each San Martin ship they managed to destroy. Shortly after the planet's surrender, the Havenites executed President Hector Ramirez, Commodore Ramirez' uncle. Havenite occupation was not easy: a planetwide resistance movement led by the Ramirez family struck hard at the Havenite garrison. In retaliation, the Havenites effectively wiped out the entire Ramirez family, and kept the planet under martial law until the Manticoran Alliance evicted the Havenites during the First Haven-Manticore War. Having survived Havenite imprisonment at the Cerberus III prison camps, Commodore Jesus Ramirez was elected as the first post-occupation President of San Martin after Hades's liberation. Within a few years, and with the approval of the San Martin Congress, President Ramirez requested annexation by the Star Kingdom of Manticore, with full political participation — proportionate representation in the Commons and creation of similar numbers of peers in the Houses of Lords. There was one caveat in that their representative Lords will not have cadet seats; which means either all of their peers will be Barons or their Earls and Countesses will be deprived of the privilege for a set period of time. Because they would not take seats until after the next regular election, the San Martin annexation contributed to the behavior of the High Ridge Government after the assassination of Prime Minister Cromarty in the Yeltsin system. (FFI: See HH10, Ch. 2) They were to be compensated for this with a larger number of MPs in the House of Commons. San Martin thus became the fifth planetary member of the Star Kingdom, after Manticore, Sphinx, Gryphon and Medusa.

Seaford Nine

A critical Haven base, and the scene for some of the action in The Short Victorious War.

Shuttlesport

the capital of both the Maya System and of the Maya Sector (WS02, Ch. 1)

Sidemore

a star nation, and planet in the star system Marsh. It is located in the Silesia Sector, but is not a part of the Silesian Confederacy. The polity is a member of the Manticore Alliance (as of the conclusion of HH6). One sub-plot in HH6 (Ch. 27+) deals with this planet. Its remote location makes it vulnerable to a plot line in the book, but it also means that its people interested in a more permanent resolution that HH proposes near the end of HH6.

Silesian Confederacy

the major star nation in the Silesia Sector, occupying most of the sector, and a haven for space piracy. It was loosely confederated, and loosely governed, before being annexed by the Andermani Empire and Star Empire of Manticore.

Sigma Draconis

a star system near Sol System. It contains the oldest extrasolar colony, Beowulf, and the Beowulf Wormhole Terminus, which leads to the Manticore Wormhole Junction. The system is part of the Solarian League.

Smoking Frog

the capital planet of the Maya Sector of the Solarian League's Office of Frontier Security protected planets regions. It is very well developed industrially and scientifically, much more so than for nearly all OFS supervised planets, as is the Maya Sector generally. Its Governor, Oraville Barregos, has considerable differences with OFS policies and after the liberation of Congo (now called Torch) became one of the most popular and best known public officials in Solarin League controlled space. He and the senior Solarian Navy officer in the Maya Sector have begun to build up the Sector's naval forces in anticipation of conflict with other Solarian League interests (e.g., OFS or OFS in conjunction with Mesa influenced Solarian League officials or organizations).

Sol System

the capital system of the Solarian League. It contains the capital planet of Earth.

Solarian League

a multi-star system polity. It is the largest polity in human space, and contains most of the population of humans, most of the wealth, most of the knowledge of humankind. It has the largest and most powerful space navy of humankind. The capital of the Solarian League is New Chicago on the capital planet of Earth. The nearest wormhole terminus to the capital is the Beowulf wormhole terminus.

Sphinx

the fourth planet of Manticore-A. It is a heavy gravity world with a gravity 1.35 times that of Earth. Its orbit gives it a long year compared to Terra, with cool if temperate summers and long extremely severe winters with very heavy snowfalls. By the beginning of the 20th Century post diaspora, Sphinx has a planetary population of 1,048 million. The economy of Sphinx is based upon mining, forestry and animal husbandry. Sphinx is the native planet of a sentient species called treecats by humans, and the people by the treecats themselves. Their habitats encompass approximately a third of the planet and are protected by Sphinx Forestry Service (SFS). The treecats' claim to Sphinx was made permanent by the Ninth Amendment to the Manticoran Constitution. It was in large part the work of Stephanie Harrington, Honor Harrington's direct ancestor, who had discovered the treecats' existence, been the first human adoptee, and the effective founder of the Sphinx Forestry Service. Sphinxians tend to be the most socially and sexually conservative inhabitants of the Star Kingdom. Honor Harrington was born and grew up on Sphinx.